Introduction: In children with cerebral palsy, robotic-assisted training (RAGT) is used in addition to standard gait training. It is based on the principles of motor learning and brain plasticity. Robotic braces take on the child's weight which allows steadier and more fluent walking and reduces the therapist’s effort. Purpose: The purpose of this bachelor’s thesis was to review the research on the effect of robot rehabilitation on walking in children with cerebral palsy. Methods: We searched for research articles in English and Slovenian in PubMed, Science Direct, Web of Science, and Cinahl databases. Results: Six randomized controlled trials published between 2011 and 2018 were included. Children used Lokomat Pediatric®, Robotic treadmill 3D CaLT, Motomed gracile cycling device, Cardiokids elliptical trainer, and GaitTrainer GT I. In a study, subjects were trained at home and in all others in a controlled clinical setting. Therapeutic programs in controlled clinical settings consisted of 10 to 20 therapies while one program which was performed at home included 60 therapies. The main results showed that robotic-assisted gait training had a positive effect on walking speed and step length in most studies with the statistically significant improvement shown in three and step length in two studies. Three studies examined the effect of robotic-assisted gait training on gross motor skills (GMFM). Two of them used Robotic Treadmill 3D CaLT (with assistance and resistance), one of them used Lokomat Pediatric®. For component D, the effects were positive in all three and, for component E in two of them, for therapy with Lokomat Pediatric® and for therapy with Robotic treadmill 3D CaLT z asistenco. Discussion and conclusion: The reviewed studies showed a positive effect on walking and gross motor skills. The Lokomat Pediatric® proved to be the best. However, the effects remain comparable to conventional gait training. Therefore, robotic-assisted gait training could be used as a supplementary therapy to standard neurophysiotherapy treatment. Since there is a lack of existing studies, heterogeneity of samples, and since there are many possible existing factors possibly influencing the results, further studies would be necessary to set the conclusions and provide valid guidelines for robotic-assisted gait training.
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