The Open Source Leg and Dr. Rouse’s work to increase collaboration in the field of bionic limbs were recently highlighted in an article in digitaltrends. To learn more about the project be sure to visit the OSL project page.

Congrats to Dr. Rouse who recently was promoted to IEEE Senior Member!

Congrats to Dr. Amanda Shorter on successfully defending her dissertation! Amanda received her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University. Great Job!

Congratulations to Dr. Alejandro Acozar on the successful defense of his dissertation! Alejandro earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from University of Michigan. Great job, Alejandro!

Dr. Rouse received a NSF grant with collaborators Dr. Bobby Gregg and Dr. Eric Rombokas. This grant will build on the Open-Source Leg (OSL) project with the goal of establishing open source software that will enable improved torque control as well as the ability to let the user to control the OSL based on their body movements.

Best of luck to Tyler as he leaves Michigan to begin his new position as an Assistant Professor at UCLA! Read more about his new lab here. We’ll miss you!

We would like to welcome Kevin Best to the lab! He will be pursuing his PhD in Robotics under the joint advisement of Dr. Elliott Rouse (Neurbionics) and Dr. Bobby Gregg (LocoLab).

We’d also like to welcome Chelsea Richards to Neurobionics! She is an Orthotic Resident at the University of Michigan Orthotics and Prosthetics Center.

We’d like to welcome Hannah Frame to the lab as a Research Engineer! Hannah completed her Masters in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin in Dr. Rick Neptune’s Neuromuscular Biomechanics Lab.

Congratulations to Dr. Max Shepherd on the successful defense of his dissertation! Max earned his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University, and has the honor of being the first doctoral student to graduate from the Neurobionics Lab. Well done, Max!

Check out this Michigan Robotics press release about the Open Source Leg!

Dr. Rouse, Dr. Levi Hargrove, and teams from Michigan Robotics and the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab executed an on-stage demo of the Open Source Leg (OSL) at the Amazon Re:Mars conference in Las Vegas, NV. A man named Terry, who has a transfemoral amputation, walked across the stage and climbed up and down stairs wearing the OSL controlled using Dr. Hargrove’s state-of-the-art intent recognition system. You can watch their talk and see the demo here. 

Welcome to our newest lab member, Dr. Varun Joshi! Varun will be working as a postdoc co-advised by Dr. Rouse and Dr. Chandramouli Krishnan (department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation). Varun completed his PhD at Ohio State University under the direction of Professor Manoj Srinivasan.

Amanda Shorter is one of six finalists for the Student Paper Competition at the International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR), out of hundreds of submissions. She will present her paper titled, Ankle Mechanical Impedance During Walking in Chronic Stroke: Preliminary Results, in Toronto in June. 

Ung Hee Lee was awarded the Best Poster Award from the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) workshop on robotic locomotion. His poster, titled, The Open Source Leg: Steps Toward Real-world Deployment of Bionics, was recognized from dozens of other poster presentations. 

Congratulations to lab member Nikko Van Crey on receiving a 2019 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship award!

Check out the open source leg on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.  The installation is part of the Wired To Wear exhibit, and highlights our work in collaboration with the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. See a photo of the exhibit and read more here. 

Undergrad Marcos Cavallin wins the Fall 2018 RISE Best Paper Award for his work titled, Empirical Characterization of the Variable Stiffness Orthosis (VSO). Read more about the VSO here.