## 2 Materials and Methods
### Experimental Setup and Protocol  
Three (3) male chronic SCI patients (ages 21, 62, 53) and three (3) male chronic stroke patients (ages 51, 54, 23) were recruited in the clinical trial protocols [36; 37] and, after having obtained informed consent in accordance with the institutionally approved and published study protocol [28], they participated in the validation experiments during March 2024-March 2025. The participants, in addition to basic medical history, were evaluated using an array of clinical measures, which included (a) for SCI patients: the International Standard for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI) [38] and the Spinal Cord Independence Measure (g-SCIM-III) [39; 40], and (b) for stroke patients: the Oxford Muscle Scale, the Stroke Impact Scale, version 3.0 (SIS) [41], the Modified Rankin Score-9Q (mRS-9Q) [42], the Timed Up and Go Test at 3 meters (TUG) [43] and the Timed 10-Meter Walk Test [44]. Both groups of patients were administered the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) [45] and an array of neuropsychological questionnaires that included the Beck Anxiety Index (BAI) [46], the Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI) [47; 48], the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE) [49; 50], the Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES) [51], the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) [52] and the Kinesthetic and Visual Imagery Questionnaire (KVIQ [53]). The SCI participant evaluation is presented in Table 2 and the post-stroke participant evaluation is presented in Table 3.  
Participants reported no prior experience with wearable robotics or with serious game applications. They completed the experimental tasks as described below, taking place in the Thess-AHALL Living Lab [54] of the Medical Physics and Digital Innovation Laboratory. Afterward, they completed an array of questionnaires aiming to evaluate user experience (UX), which included perception of robotics through the GODSPEED RoboticsQuestionnaire [55; 56], mental effort through the Subjective Mental Effort Questionnaire (SMEQ) [57], and discomfort through the Locally Experienced Discomfort Questionnaire (LED) [58]. Statistical analysis of the answers to the above questionnaires consisted of calculating medians (Mdns) and interquartile ranges (IQRs) for the SCI, stroke, and total participants, which are presented in Table 4 and reported as Mdn(IQR). The number of participants in each leg (3 SCI, 3 stroke, 6 in total) does not allow for further meaningful statistical comparisons, so discussion of those results was based on qualitative observations. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**Participant Info** & **NSU-01-001** & **NSU-02-001** & **NSU-02-002** \\ \hline Age, sex & 62, male & 21, male & 53, male \\ Time since injury & 18 months & 24 months & 37 years \\ Injury cause & MVA & MVA & Dive \\ Complete or incomplete & Complete & Incomplete & Incomplete \\ \hline NLI & C6 & C4 & C7 \\ AIS & A & C & B \\ UEMS & 40 & 22/50 & 26 \\ LEMS & 0 & 2/50 & 0 \\ LT & 34 & 41/112 & 46 \\ PP & 32 & 39/112 & 84 \\ MAS level UE & 1 & 1+ & 2 \\ MAS level LE & 3 & 3 & 0 \\ \hline SCIM total & 47/100 & 41/100 & 65/100 \\ self-care & 10/20 & 7/20 & 16/20 \\ respiration and sphincter & 26/40 & 26/40 & 34/40 \\ mobility & 11/40 & 8/40 & 15/40 \\ \hline AES & 29 & 27 & 20 \\ BAI & 0 & 1 & 1 \\ BDI & 7 & 3 & 0 \\ RSE & 27 & 24 & 30 \\ KVIQ & 50 & 49 & 50 \\ VVIQ & 79 & 80 & 80 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
* AES: Apathy Evaluation Scale; AIS: ASIA Impairment Scale; BAS: Beck Anxiety Index; BDI: Beck’s Depression Index; KVIQ: Kineshtetic and Visual Imagery Questionnaire; LE: Lower Extremity; LEMS: Lower Extremity Motor Score; LT: Light Touch; MAS: Modified Ashworth Scale; MVA: Motor Vechile Accident; NLI: Neurological Level of Injury; PP: Pin Prick; RSE: Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale; SCIM: Spinal Cord Independence Measure; UE: Upper Extremity; UEMS: Upper Extremity Motor Subscore; VVIQ: Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire.  
\end{table}