NEC Seminar: Friday, September 13, 9:00 AM
Note room change - moving to Sears 439 for the Fall semester
Speaker: Ziling Luo
Advisor: Dr. Dawn Taylor
Title: Integrating stiffness modulation into brain-controlled upper limb neuroprosthetics
Abstract: Brain-controlled Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) of the arm presents a promising approach for improving the quality of life for individuals with paralysis. Our lab's previous simulation work has shown that incorporating modulation of limb stiffness, through varying the cocontraction of antagonist muscles, can enhance both the precision and energy efficiency of FES-controlled reaching movements.
This presentation will explore three directions our lab is taking for incorporating stiffness modulation into brain-controlled FES of the arm. In addition to optimizing automated stiffness modulation, we have demonstrated the ability to decode volitional stiffness modulation in both animal models and human participant. Additionally, this presentation will introduce a possible novel method of control--directly mapping neural signals to muscle stimulation values, bypassing the intermediate step of determining which stimulation values are required to produce the desired movement. The process developed here for helping the brain learn to control muscle stimulators directly may have more generalizable applications to the control of a wide range of high-degree-of-freedom assistive technologies.