Claire Mitchell, Karley Benoff, and Makoto Eyre present at the Mary Gates Research Symposium

On May 18th, Claire Mitchell, Karley Benoff, and Makoto Eyre presented their research at the Mary Gates Undergraduate Research Symposium. These three students worked on year-long projects and showcased their hard work during a campus-wide poster session.

Claire’s research focused on creating a website and server framework for clinicians and researchers across the country to use for calculating muscle synergies for motor control analysis. Muscle synergies are an incredibly complex and computationally expensive analysis of electromyography data but provide quantification of motor control and assist in therapy prescription for movement disorders.

Claire Mitchell, and undergraduate student in the Steele Lab, stands in front of her poster at Mary Gates Hall during the undergraduate research symposium. Claire is wearing a white and blue floral blouse. She is in the middle of describing her research project to four community members who have taken an interest in her research.

Makoto Eyre and Karley Benoff stand nearly back to back in front of their poster at Mary Gates Hall during the undergraduate research symposium. Makoto is facing to the left of the poster, and is wearing glasses, a white button up shirt and black slacks while conversing with members of the community outside of the images capture. Karley Benoff has shoulder length brown and blonde hair and is wearing a pink blouse while helping to fit a member of the community with her 3D-printed device at the elbow. Karley and the female community member are making sure the device's elbow joint is aligning well with the community member's elbow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karley and Mako’s research focused on designing and testing a 3D-printed elbow-driven orthosis for individuals with limited hand function. They drew inspiration from upper-extremity prosthetic devices and evaluated a voluntary close and voluntary open mechanism to assist an individual’s dominant limb.

Great work Karley, Mako, and Claire!

The interior courtyard of Mary Gates Hall has interior windows and a combination of new and old architectural elements. This is the location where hundreds of undergraduate presenters and community members discuss research accomplishments and next steps.

Go-Baby-Go project is named an awardee for the Mobility Unlimited Challenge Discovery Award!

Toyota Mobility is sponsoring ten teams who aim to break into the assistive technology market with $50,000 of seed funding.

The Mobility Unlimited Challenge attracted nearly 100 applications worldwide, and we are proud to announce our joint team was selected!

Our team here at the University of Washington, together with Oregon State University, submitted a joint application. Highlights are included below. To learn more about Toyota’s Challenge or the other nine fellow awardees, click here.

TITLE: Enabling Independent Mobility and Social Play for Young Children with Mobility Impairments

CHALLENGE: There is a demonstrated lack of commercially-available pediatric mobility devices that promote early mobility and socialization in 1-3 year-old children with mobility impairments. The team proposes an intelligent powered mobility device that enables independent mobility and encourages social interaction and play among young children of different abilities. The device will employ artificial intelligence to ensure safety, while satisfying four key requirements of being (1) low-cost, (2) durable, (3) adaptable/customizable, and (4) aesthetically and functionally desirable by children with all abilities.

Karley Benoff named in the Husky 100!

We are honored to have a 2018 Husky 100 member in our lab! The Husky 100 recognizes 100 UW undergraduate and graduate students from Bothell, Seattle, and Tacoma in all areas of study who are making the most of their time at the UW. Read an excerpt of Karley’s application packet below to learn more about her involvement with HuskyADAPT, her research with orthotic design, outreach, and her studies. Congratulations, Karley!