Assessing Therapist-Mediated Visual Feedback in Robot-Assisted Gait Training Through Eye-Tracking and HD-EEG

The growing diffusion of rehabilitation robotics in daily clinical practice has led to the inclusion of the robot as a third agent in the one-to-one physiotherapist-patient interaction typical of traditional rehabilitation. The introduction of performance-based visual FeedBack (FB) improved the effectiveness of human-robot interaction in accomplishing goal-oriented tasks and helped to bridge the lack of physical contact between therapist and patient. We aim to investigate the patient’s perception of different therapist-mediated visual FBs during robot-assisted gait therapy in individuals with spinal cord injury by means of a multimodal assessment including high-density EEG and eye tracking. Results highlight how the presence of the therapist is essential to keep the patient actively involved in the rehabilitation task, a crucial point for improving clinical outcome.