Q&A with Wearable Technologies Associate Editor: Lotte N. S. Andreasen Struijk

Professor Lotte N. S. Andreasen Struijk, Aalborg University, Denmark answers our questions about their work and Cambridge University Press’s new journal Wearable Technologies.

What first attracted you to the field of wearable technologies?.

I am passionate about creating new knowledge and novel technologies that can empower and improve the quality of life for the many millions of people who live with functional impairments. Additionally, a strong motivation for me is the potential of the field to provide new solutions that can reduce the increasing load on health professionals and thereby help alleviate the consequences of the demographic changes with a growing share of elderly.

What are you currently working on that you’d like to tell us about?

Currently, I am working on several wearable technologies for severely disabled individuals. This includes a full arm hand exoskeleton with 5-6 Degrees of freedom, which can be used at home. My work also focusses on human-machine interfaces– hereunder hybrid interfaces based on brain signals, myoelectric signals and tongue-based control methods. These interfaces enables individuals with disabilities to control exoskeletons and other robots or technologies. Further, I work with therapeutic robots to increase the outcome of neurorehabilitation and reduce the load on- or injuries of – health professionals.

What are some of the challenges facing the field today?

Some of the current challenges facing the field is related to interfaces for disabled individuals, size of technologies, weight and materials of technologies, computational power, size of powering methods, clinical studies and user involvement.

Why should authors publish in Wearable Technologies?

The Journal addresses specifically the relevant topics within Wearable Technologies, and thus reaches researchers, clinicians and industry with a specific interest in the field. Thereby it supports the efforts to address the related challenges in a collaborative and interdisciplinary manner. The Journals editorial team is committed to a fast peer review process of high quality, and the journal offers open access publication.

What are your top 3 papers that were published in the journal last year?

Performance of the CYBERLEGs motorized lower limb prosthetic device during simulated daily activities

Authors:  Jo Ghillebert, Joost Geeroms, Louis Flynn, Sander De Bock, Renée Govaerts, Elke Lathouwers, Simona Crea, Nicola Vitiello, Dirk Lefeber, Romain Meeusen, Kevin De Pauw

Occupational exoskeletons: A roadmap toward large-scale adoption. Methodology and challenges of bringing exoskeletons to workplaces    

Authors:  Simona Crea, Philipp Beckerle, Michiel De Looze, Kevin De Pauw, Lorenzo Grazi, Tjaša Kermavnar, Jawad Masood, Leonard W. O’Sullivan, Ilaria Pacifico, Carlos Rodriguez-Guerrero, Nicola Vitiello, Danijela Ristić-Durrant, Jan Veneman Franks, P. Bryan, G. Martin, R. Reyes, R. Lakmazaheri, A. & Collins, S.

Comparing optimized exoskeleton assistance of the hip, knee, and ankle in single and multi-joint configurations.

Authors: Patrick W. Franks, Gwendolyn M. Bryan, Russell M. Martin, Ricardo Reyes, Ava C. Lakmazaheri and Steven H. Collins

Wearable Technologies
Wearable Technologies

Wearable Technologies is the first open access journal dedicated to publishing original research, review articles and industrial developments related to wearable devices. Wearable technologies have a role in areas such as rehabilitation, industry, environment/exploration, injury prevention, military, diagnostics, animals, sport and leisure and this journal aims to connect research from all areas of wearable technologies. 


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