Neurobotics Laboratory

A girl holding up a robotic arm that resembles a human skeleton A woman accepting her diploma at a graduation ceremony

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The Neurobotics Laboratory is interested in using and developing robotic technology as a way to understand, rehabilitate, assist, and enhance human motor control and learning capabilities. Our primary target population is individuals with strokes, spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, amputees, and other injuries that inhibit daily activities. We also target sports medicine, military, and entertainment applications.

The Neurobotics Laboratory takes multidisciplinary approaches in several research areas.

  1. Use of a robotic device as a tool to understand human neuromusculoskeletal systems

    By designing and developing anatomically correct robotic systems, we provide insight into the lower-level neuromuscular mechanisms. And by controlling these mechanisms, we provide insight into the higher-level biological control strategies and synergies. We also perform psychophysical experiments on human subjects to understand the human mechanisms and controls as a way to help design better robotic devices and controllers.

  2. Development of a physical human-robot interaction (pHRI) environment for rehabilitation and assistance

    We design and construct assistive and training robotic environments that intimately interact / interface with the human neuromusculoskeletal systems. These pHRI environments include haptic, prosthetic, implantable, and wearable devices. Example robots include a haptic device for closed-loop rehabilitation, and an anatomical prosthetic hand.

  3. Neural Control of a robotic device

    We investigate the use of natural neural control signals (extracted through ECoG, EEG, electrodes, EMG, nerve cuffs, etc) to control prosthetic and wearable robotic limbs. In return, we investigate the use of robotic sensor signals to provide the closed loop feedback to the nervous system. While we challenge the most natural interaction between the neural and robotic interactions, we also investigate the alteration in neural control due to the robot-human closed loop control.

    The Neurobotics Laboratory is open to students and researchers with a variety of backgrounds. Example backgrounds are: mechanical, electrical, and biomedical engineering, physics, math, computer science, cognitive science, neuroscience, art, and medicine. We have had several MD / Ph.D. students and we welcome more. The Neurobotics Laboratory is a perfect place to work on fundamental scientific questions while affecting and changing people in daily tasks. It is a place where multidisciplinary knowledge is encouraged and pursued.

    The Neurobotics Laboratory's motto is to work hard and play hard. While we work very hard, it is very important for us to go out and enjoy ourselves.