BME Seminar: New Human Interactive Robotic Systems for the Advancement of Biomechanics, Assistive Robotics, and Robot-Aided Rehabilitation

ASU Neuromuscular Control and Human Robotics Lab has developed several new human interactive robotic systems for various applications, including biomechanics, physical human-robot interaction, assistive robotics, and robot-aided rehabilitation, and this talk will present three different robotic systems. I will first introduce a robotic balance platform that could be easily integrated into a traditional motion analysis setting for biomechanics and rehabilitation research. Standing postural stability was investigated under challenging mechanical environments simulated by the platform. It was also successfully used to characterize multi-dimensional ankle mechanics during various standing and walking tasks and to perform balance training for stroke and cerebral palsy patients. Next, I will introduce a new parallel-actuated shoulder exoskeleton robotic system which overcomes several critical limitations of current state-of-the-art serial-chain exoskeleton robots and allows for seamless physical interaction between the robot and a human user. This shoulder robot was utilized to characterize multi-dimensional shoulder mechanics, not achievable with existing exoskeleton robots. In the last part of my talk, I will share our recent efforts to adopt soft robotic technologies in lower extremity biomechanics research. I will introduce a pneumatically-powered soft robotic ankle foot orthosis and a soft robotic hip exosuit and present their use cases in our recent locomotion studies.

Hyunglae Lee is an Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy (SEMTE) at Arizona State University (ASU). He currently directs the Neuromuscular Control and Human Robotics Laboratory (ASU Neurorobotics Lab). He received his BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Seoul National University (SNU) and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Prior to joining ASU, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Sensory Motor Performance Program, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (formerly Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago). Previously, he also worked at Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) and LG Electronics. His research interest lies at the intersection of robotics, biomechanics and neuromuscular control. His recent awards and honors include New Investigator award from Arizona Department of Health Services (2021), IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology (EMB) Paper Award (2021), Top 5% Teaching Award at ASU Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering (2020, 2021), Winner of the Innovation Challenge in WearRAcon (2020, 2021), and NSF CAREER award (2019). Currently, he serves as one of the Associate Vice Presidents of IEEE Robotics & Automation Society (RAS) and a President of the US West Division of Korea Robotics Society (KROS).