Recent advancements in robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) have enabled assistive robots to engage in many activities with and alongside humans in shared environments. This physical proximity has introduced novel, complex tasks for the robotics community to address, which can be clustered into three main areas: (i) personal care robots that facilitate humans in physical Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), such as dressing, washing, and feeding, among other personal care tasks through pHRI, (ii) service robots that can perform manipulation tasks for and with humans (doing mobilization and rehabilitation exercises but also handling objects), (iii) physical support robots that provide partial Body Weight Support (BWS) and assist and guide humans during stance, walking, and other activities (sitting, standing, bending, among other physical-support-based tasks.).

We aim to gather the latest research findings highlighting innovative strategies and interfaces for physically assistive robots in healthcare. This Research Topic will explore human modeling and assessment, highlighting the development of models for online and non-invasive monitoring of the human physical and cognitive state, and impairments. Additionally, we seek to investigate advancements in assistive hardware, with a particular focus on the design of versatile and reconfigurable interfaces. Special attention will be given to devices that exploit, rather than avoid, physical contact, fostering seamless and intuitive human-robot interaction. Furthermore, this collection will present novel research in personalized learning and interaction. By deepening our understanding of personalized adaptation, we aim to highlight techniques that enable robots to learn and adjust their behavior based on individual intentions, actions, and human preferences.

We welcome a variety of articles to this Research Topic, including systematic and narrative reviews, case reports, brief research reports, empirical studies and interventions. Authors are invited to submit papers addressing one or multiple of the following topics:
• Monitoring of human cognitive and physical ergonomics
• Modeling of humans with mobility constraints
• Human movement and gait analysis
• Prediction of human intentions and actions
• Assessment of trust, comfort, and perceived safety in pHRI
• Human-centered design of physically assistive devices and interfaces
• Smart walking and mobility aids
• Customizable interfaces for physical assistance
• Co-adaptation and personalization of physically assistive robots
• Model-based and model-free control strategies for physical assistance
• Robot learning from human-human physical interaction
• Planning and decision-making for physical assistance
• Safety and robustness in physical assistance
• Design of explainable and trustworthy assistive behaviors
• Challenges and requirements of in-home and in-hospital deployment of physically assistive robots

This Research Topic is linked to the workshop "How do Robots Care? Innovative Strategies and Interfaces for Physically Assistive Robots in Healthcare" hosted at the 2025 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Submissions that were previously published as conference proceedings must be extended to include 30% original content. We welcome submissions from both the workshop attendees and any other relevant contributions.

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Innovative Strategies and Interfaces for Physically Assistive Robots in Healthcare

Topic Coordinator