Promoting Patient Engagement in Upper Limb Robotic Rehabilitation Therapy

Neurological injuries including stroke and spinal cord injury result in long-term disability, yet intensive and engaging rehabilitation can restore motor coordination and independence for many individuals. In particular, robotic rehabilitation has received significant attention for upper-limb therapy due to its ability to provide high-intensity repetitive movement therapy. Research in my lab has focused on increasing patient engagement in robotic therapy, which has been shown to be important for inducing neural plasticity to facilitate recovery. This talk will survey our recent advances, including the design of novel exoskeleton-type robotic devices, adaptive control architectures for upper extremity rehabilitation, and integrating sensing of user intent via non-invasive sensing techniques.