Engineering to enhance human mobility, play, and exploration
Brianna Goodwin, a Master’s student in our lab, presented her collaborative 
abstract on monitoring Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy (CIMT), a therapy for children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy (CP), at the Seattle Children’s Hospital (SCH) Grand Rounds this past week. The Grand Rounds are a time to present research, new ideas, and translational science to medical personnel of varied background.
To read Brianna’s abstract in full, download her PDF here: SCH Grand Rounds, CIMT abstract
Congratulations to Benjamin Shuman for passing his general exam! He is now officially a Ph.D. Candidate.
Ben’s Ph.D. committee agreed his scientific work to date and proposed final gait modeling project will culminate in the award of his Ph.D. in one year’s time.
To celebrate, a fellow lab member created a humorous photo with Ben’s face pasted into a movie still-frame. Congratulations again, Ben!
Jessica Zistatsis has successfully defended her Master’s Thesis here at the University of Washington, in Dr. Steele’s Ability & Innovation Lab.
To complete her Master’s in full, Jessica will be submitting and disseminating her thesis, A Passive Pediatric Exoskeleton to Improve the Walking Ability of Children with Neuromuscular Disorders.
To begin watching Jessica’s defense, you may view Part 1 on YouTube HERE, or directly below:
Our lab could not be more proud! To help celebrate her successful defense, the lab drafted a flyer depicting an empowered Godzilla wearing PlayGait, Jessica’s pediatric exoskeleton. Here’s hoping future children will use their newfound superpowers for good, unlike our friend in this picture!
Journal article in PLOSOne: In collaboration with the University of Washington Prosthetics and Orthotics Division, a user-centered design approach was used to improve the design and wearability of a passive, wrist-driven orthosis. To read the article in full, click HERE. To access the open-source print files, click HERE.
Background: Assistive technology, such as wrist-driven orthoses (WDOs), can be used by individuals with spinal cord injury to improve hand function. A lack of innovation and challenges in obtaining WDOs have limited their use. These orthoses can be heavy and uncomfortable for users and also time-consuming for orthotists to fabricate.
Purpose/Methods: The goal of this research was to design a WDO with user (N = 3) and orthotist (N = 6) feedback to improve the accessibility, customizability, and function of WDOs by harnessing advancements in 3D-printing.
Results: The 3D-printed WDO reduced hands-on assembly time to approximately 1.5 hours and the material costs to $15 compared to current fabrication methods. Varying improvements in users’ hand function were observed during functional tests, such as the Jebsen Taylor Hand Function Test. For example, one participant’s ability on the small object task improved by 29 seconds with the WDO, while another participant took 25 seconds longer to complete this task with the WDO. Two users had a significant increase in grasp strength with the WDO (13–122% increase), while the other participant was able to perform a pinching grasp for the first time.
The WDO designs are available open-source to increase accessibility and encourage future innovation.
We are very proud to announce that Dr. Heather Feldner has been named a KL2 Scholar. Heather is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Ability & Innovation Lab, and has received support through 2021 to pursue one of her missions of improving mobility interventions for young children with movement challenges.
Project Title: Improving translational capacity in early powered mobility intervention: Investigating the socio-emotional impacts of modified ride-on car use by children with disabilities and their families
To learn more, click this link.