Wearable technologies for assisted mobility in the real world
Mobility impairments from aging, injury, or medical conditions limit independence and social participation. Conventional assistive devices lack adaptability in complex environments. Recent wearable technologies integrating neural sensing, electronics, and co-design offer personalized, responsive mobility support. This perspective focuses on advances in wearable sensing and multimodal fusion for intent recognition, environmental interaction, and adaptive control in exoskeletons, prosthetics, smart wheelchairs, and navigation systems. Emphasizing human-in-the-loop and cognitive-sensorimotor integration, it outlines emerging trends and challenges, promoting intelligent, user-centered solutions to restore function and enhance autonomy, accessibility, and inclusion for individuals with mobility impairments.
Authors
- Yu Pan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5703-5322)
- Tom Carlson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9201-7798)
- Dean Ta (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6651-4491)
- Hubin Zhao
- Peng Qi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0514-9464)
- Letizia Gionfrida
- Shuqin Dong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6875-0914)
- Inseung Kang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5846-1550)
- Wenyao Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6444-9411)
- Jinke Chang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8335-1337)
- Qinyuan Ren (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9487-2675)
- Yuchen Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4953-8747)
- Yi Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7142-2871)
- Yajie Qin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4879-5995)
- Jinchen Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3002-2855)
- P. A. Kyriacou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2868-485X)
- Siming Zuo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3702-9603)
- Gert Cauwenberghs (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3166-5529)
- Yunjia Xia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-2768-6418)
- Tianyu Jia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6645-509X)
- Dario Farina (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7883-2697)
- Tamar R. Makin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5816-8979)
- Kianoush Nazarpour (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4217-0254)
- Yuan‐Ting Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4150-5470)
- Yixuan Yuan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0853-6948)
- Rui Loureiro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2224-0406)
- Chenyun Dai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3056-4339)
- Xuemeng Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-6602-4245)
- Julie Uchitel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4568-5421)
- Themis Prodromakis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6267-6909)
- Weihao Ma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2749-2714)
- Shuo Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3096-4700)
- Xinkai Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8791-294X)
- Alexander J. Casson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1408-1190)
- He Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1167-6228)
- Shiwei Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5450-2108)
- Wei Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3720-718X)
- Haixia Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4565-4123)
- Hadi Heidari (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8412-8164)
- Haotian Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9516-183X)
- Yong‐Xin Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8842-5609)
- Junbo Ge (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9360-7332)
- Shan Luo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6433-2387)
- Jianan Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-2320-1954)
- Chen Hu
- Huixin Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-3575-9813)
Institutions
- Tongji University (CN)
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- St George's, University of London (GB)
- National University of Singapore (SG)
- City University of Hong Kong (HK)
- Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK)
- City, University of London (GB)
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN)
- King's College London (GB)
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (GB)
- Peking University (CN)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Fudan University (CN)
- University of Manchester (GB)
- University of California San Diego (US)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- National Microelectronics Institute (GB)
- Zhongshan Hospital (CN)
- La Jolla Bioengineering Institute (US)
- Zhejiang Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (CN)
- Intelligent Health (United Kingdom) (GB)
- University College London (GB)
- Imperial College London (GB)
- University at Buffalo, State University of New York (US)
- Carnegie Mellon University (US)
- Southeast University (CN)
- University of Glasgow (GB)
- Beihang University (CN)
- Stanford University (US)
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
- Tsinghua University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-12-08
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67126-4
- Primary Topic
- Prosthetics and Rehabilitation Robotics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00