A Survey on Robotic Prosthetics: Neuroprosthetics, Soft Actuators, and Control Strategies

The field of robotics is a quickly evolving feat of technology that accepts contributions from various genres of science. Neuroscience, Physiology, Chemistry, Material science, Computer science, and the wide umbrella of mechatronics have all simultaneously contributed to many innovations in the prosthetic applications of robotics. This review begins with a discussion of the scope of the term robotic prosthetics and discusses the evolving domain of Neuroprosthetics. The discussion is then constrained to focus on various actuation and control strategies for robotic prosthetic limbs. This review discusses various soft robotic actuators such as EAP, SMA, FFA, etc., and the merits of such actuators over conventional hard robotic actuators. Options in control strategies for robotic prosthetics, that are in various states of research and development, are reviewed. This paper concludes the discussion with an analysis regarding the prospective direction in which this field of robotic prosthetics is evolving in terms of actuation, control, and other features relevant to artificial limbs. This paper intends to review some of the emerging research and development trends in the field of robotic prosthetics and summarize many tangents that are represented under this broad domain in an approachable manner.