Guest Editorial Wearable Robotics for Motion Assistance and Rehabilitation

The number of people aged 60 years and over has tripled since 1950, and reached 600 million in 2000 and 700 million in 2006. This number is now projected to surpass 2 billion by 2050 [1]. The rise in life expectancy combined with falling birth rates will accelerate the ageing of the population; prevalence and incidence of age-related diseases are expected to increase in the years to come. Therefore, we can expect that pathologies like stroke, dysvascular lower limb amputations, Parkinson disease, and/or the more common consequences of the ageing process, such as falls and biomechanics degradation, will increase the number of humans with severe to mild level of movement impairments: this will definitely threaten the sustainability of our welfare systems. Facing this problem or reducing its effect would have a great societal impact by improving the quality of life and regaining people independence to make them active in society and live active, fulfilling and independent lives.