Besides the social and personal benefits of a rehabilitation robot, the direct cost-savings and other (indirect) economic benefits, or effectiveness, are of major importance to party who pays for (or reimburses) the rehabilitation robot. This paper gives an overview of these cost-savings and, on a larger scale, economic benefits of the Assistive Robotic Manipulator (ARM) rehabilitation robot.

The Dynamic Arm Support, or briefly the DAS, is a new medical device that serves to compensate for lost arm function of the severely disabled. The target group suffers from insufficient muscle force to move its arms over the usual Range of Motion (RoM). The purpose of the DAS is to assist its user during Activities of Daily Living (ADL) by eliminating gravity acting on the upper limb and enabling the limb to move freely. The development of the DAS is presented and discussed, focusing on the modular parts, working principle, unique features, and technical performance as well as results for the target group.

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The iArm is a service robot arm to help people with upper-limb disability in their daily lives. The iArm has been produced for about 10 years in the Netherlands. The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology has developed RAPUDA (Robotic Arm for Persons with Upper-limb DisAbility). The effectiveness of the RAPUDA was evaluated by conducting ergonomics experiments. We analyze the effectiveness of the robot arm in daily life through interviews with iArm users living in the Netherlands and with the participants in the human ergonomics experiments of RAPUDA. Effectiveness will be evaluated by the ICF (International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health).

Medical devices produced by manufacturers are subject to regulatory review by authorities. Usually, medical devices are developed at universities and other research institutes. This implies that regulatory activities are to be carried out by the designer at these organizations also. And as early as in the research and design phase of the device. Failing to take into account regulatory requirements in the device phase, has shown to be impeding marketing of new devices. This paper presents guidelines on regulations for the designer. Further, the safety of a medical device can be proven by its compliance with recognized standards. Unfortunately, no standard for Rehabilitation Robots exists. This paper proposes the content of such a standard and invites scientists to contribute to it.