Outreach

“Can thoughts be harnessed to move robotic limbs?” – Lab featured in Seattle Times NW

Keshia Media, News, Outreach

jaynaThis past Friday, the University unleashed its most ambitious philanthropic campaign, UW Together. The Ability & Innovation Lab was honored to have a team of undergraduate’s work featured, an elbow-driven orthosis for Jayna.

This story is now featured in the Seattle Times NW Showcase section, and Kat, our Director, is featured in an ad to the right of the story. To read and watch the video, CLICK HERE. We are proud to partner with the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (CSNE) here in the College of Engineering. Innovation occurs at the intersection of multiple disciplines, and Together we can change the world.

Go Dawgs and Go Biomechanics!

 

Can Technology Make a Difference in Pediatric Rehabilitation? – A NCMRR Webcast

Keshia AccessEngineering, News, Outreach, Projects, UbiquitousRehabilitation

Interested in how technology can be used to make a difference in pediatric rehabilitation? A video cast from the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research (NCMRR) discusses the topic in Bethesda MD. The workshop is organized by the Motion Analysis Laboratory and supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

The workshop on August 9th, 2016 brought together a group of experts in rehabilitation to discuss how technology can help us to address pressing needs in pediatric rehabilitation. To follow all of the talks this past week and listen to “Can Technology Make a Difference in Pediatric Rehabilitation?”, follow this link, CLICK HERE.

Techbridge – Elementary Girls Visit Lab

Keshia News, Outreach ,

Techbridge is a program that inspires girls to discover a passion for technology, science and engineering. Through hands-on learning, they empower the next generation of innovators and leaders.

We had two groups of young women join us in our lab to talk about mechanical engineering and how we use engineering principles to help individuals with movement impairments. To demonstrate the human body’s ability to control devices, the girls took turns moving a robot gripper using the electrical signals read from their own arm muscles (read more about this neat application here).Elementary school girls surround a large demo-filled table during a visit to the Ability and Innovation Lab.Three look on as a young girl controls a robotic gripper using electrical signals generated neurologically from her brain to her bicep brachii arm muscle.

Engineering Discovery Days

Keshia MotorControl, News, Orthoses, Outreach , ,

Our lab had a great time sharing our research at the College of Engineering Discovery Days. Our booth was entitled, “The Ultimate Machine” because we think of the human body as a complex system with our brain as a controller/computer and our muscles as our motors. Elementary and middle school students used their neural pathway, from brain to muscle, to control a robot gripper by either relaxing or activating their muscle.  A student activates his muscle to hold a golf ball with a robot gripper Our lab director, Kat Steele, explains why ankle foot orthoses are used and what we are doing to optimize the device. Another student tries her luck at holding a golf ball with a robot hand. The record hold time was 170 seconds. A group of students cheer on their peer as he activates his muscle to hold a golf ball with a robot gripper Elementary and middle school aged students try on 3D printed prosthetic devices