Table 2 Software- and hardware-related criteria technology should meet to assist in stroke rehabilitation therapy ¹

a

Familiarisation with the system should take little time²

b

Adjusting the hardware and setting the software to an individual patient should be a quick and easy process for all therapists and preferably also for therapy assistants²

c

Training goal(s) for patients of pre-programmed tasks or games should be evident to therapists²

d

Hardware and software design of technology should facilitate adaptation to individual patients or patient target groups and to patient progression over time²

e

Hardware and/or software settings should be adjustable to various task-related variables²

f

The design of the system (software and hardware) should facilitate the elicitation of task-related movements, whereas compensation strategies are to be prevented (as much as possible)²

g

The system should be able to give clear instructions, and provide feedback, to the patient²

h

The system should be able to measure and document task progression of the patient to provide performance feedback to the therapist²

i

Hardware and/or software should meet the implementation-related criteria: “The system should have quick initialisation, should preferably be portable and should function stably” ²

j

The system should be able to save individual therapy settings and data of a patient²

k

Hardware and software should facilitate independent use of the system by patients²: Training at home requires portability of the device [21]

l

Criteria related to psychological aspects of robotic devices [35]:

The system should remain rather ’invisible’

The system should look 'human-friendly' and behave accordingly

m

Criterion related to ergonomic and logistic aspects of robotic devices [35]:

The robot set-up must be rather flexible to cope with different applications and situations