IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering

Our work aims to address the challenging problem of reactive-fibrosis in establishing a long term peripheral neural interface (PNI). We present a novel interface – STEER PNI – that harnessed the fibro-axonal growth from the nerve and incorporated fibrosis in its design. STEER PNI consists of a synthetic guide that steers fibro-axonal growth toward encapsulation of the electrodes incorporated within the guide itself. We validated the functionality of this interface in macaques with electrophysiology and immunohistochemistry. This design provides a practical approach for creating long term neural interfaces with applications in neuro-prosthetics and beyond... Read more

People wearing a lower leg prosthesis often experience discomfort or pain during the day because of changes in socket fit. To solve this problem, we created a motor-actuated prosthetic socket that automatically maintains socket fit by continuous adjustment of the socket size. A proportional-integral (PI) control system is implemented to adjust socket size based on data collected from an inductive sensor embedded within the socket wall. The sensed distance is representative of limb-to-socket distance. Experiments on participants with transtibial limb amputation verify that the system properly maintains and responds to a change in set point to maintain socket fit... Read more

Electromyogram (EMG) signals can be used to decode the intended movements of an amputee for control of a dexterous upper-limb prosthesis. However, normal prosthesis use involves changes in upper-limb positions that influence the EMG signals, hindering the ability of pattern... Read more

Currently, most externally powered prostheses are controlled using electromyography (or EMG), which is the measure of the electrical signals that are produced when voluntary muscle is contracted. One of the major problems is that there are a limited number of... Read more

  Lower-extremity exoskeletons have been actively investigated in the past few decades intending to augment the locomotion performance of able-bodied users in terms of metabolic cost, load carrying capacity, fatigue, and muscle force generation. While development efforts have been extensive, lower-limb... Read more