Ildar Farkhatdinov, Joshua Brown, Aaron Yurkewich, Etienne Burdet
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Part B (2026)
By looking at how the HRX-1 robot has been used, this article highlights why modular and user-centred open-source design approaches matter for studying the human sensorimotor system. Its modular setup made it easy to reconfigure, allowing researchers to explore a wide variety of experimental questions. The HRX-1 was employed in both fundamental studies of human motor control and in clinical research. When combined with muscle electromyography, functional electrical stimulation, and electroencephalography, the robot made it possible to examine how muscles respond to external forces and how the brain coordinates those responses. These combined methods also helped in developing new movement-assistive strategies that could support future approaches to neuromotor rehabilitation. The clinical studies included work on brain activity patterns in children with dystonia, upper-limb rehabilitation for people recovering from stroke, and therapy for patients with functional neurological disorders.