Guest Editorial Introduction to the Focused Section on Medical Mechatronics

The six papers in this focused section were originally presented at the first IEEE/RAS-EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob'06), held February 20-22, 2006, in Pisa, Italy. The first three papers illustrate mechatronic devices for rehabilitation applications; the fourth paper presents a mechatronic system for disabled people; and the last two papers deal with mechatronic devices and technologies for minimally invasive and teleoperated surgery. The papers are summarized here.