This $207,611 federal Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) will fund a collaborative research effort between the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Delaware. The objective is to investigate the potential benefits of passive ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) with customized and biomimetic stiffness profiles for improving walking function in healthy individuals and those post-stroke. The project will develop an AFO emulator to...
This $486,830 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) provides funding to the University of Delaware for research aimed at enhancing post-stroke gait recovery. The project will utilize the Variable Stiffness Treadmill 2 (VST 2) to introduce personalized perturbations to the walking surface, with the goal of improving balance, propulsion, and symmetry in the gait of stroke survivors. The researchers will develop a multi-layer...
The National Science Foundation awarded a $315,578 Project Grant to The University of Central Florida Board of Trustees under the Engineering federal grant program (CFDA 47.041) from January 2023 through December 2025. The grant funds collaborative research to develop an ankle-foot prosthesis incorporating a bioinspired, high-energy recycling mechanism to improve walking function for persons with lower limb amputations. Specifically, researchers will design and test a semi-active prosthetic...
This National Science Foundation (NSF) Project Grant award for $282,138, awarded on September 1, 2024, aims to integrate optimal function and compliant mechanisms for lower-limb powered prostheses. The key objectives are to: Develop a robust convex optimization framework to design parallel spring load-deflection responses that can reduce motor torque requirements across multiple locomotion activities, despite parametric uncertainties. Create a design framework for compliant mechanisms with...
This $720,000 project grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Information and Intelligent Systems (CFDA 47.070 - Computer and Information Science and Engineering) will develop a novel robotic ankle-foot orthosis (exoskeleton) system to assist older adults' mobility and gait ability in real-world ambulation. The project at North Carolina State University aims to design and fabricate a compact, lightweight robotic ankle-foot orthosis to provide powered assistance and enhance ankle...
This National Science Foundation Project Grant of $500,000 supports research at Arizona State University from September 2022 to August 2026 under the Computer and Information Science and Engineering program (CFDA 47.070). The university will develop a human-centered computing and control framework to improve walking performance and prosthesis embodiment for individuals with lower limb amputations. Researchers will formulate a coordinated human-robot control problem and design a learning-based...
This federal Project Grant award from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865), provides $232,230 to the Regents of the University of Michigan to develop and evaluate a novel ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) design. The key objectives are to improve upon an existing variable stiffness orthosis (VSO) by incorporating a unique cam-based transmission that allows for decoupled energy...
This National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering program Project Grant, with the award ID 2340519, is providing $478,141 to the University of Illinois to develop a personalized, wearable robotic prosthesis that can dynamically adapt to the unique movement patterns and sensory needs of individuals with below-knee amputations (BKA). The 5-year project aims to create an advanced, co-adaptive robotic prosthesis that uses biofeedback and real-time optimization to continuously personalize the...
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering program has awarded the University of Notre Dame a $357,240 project grant to develop innovative prosthetic limb technologies. This collaborative research project between Notre Dame and Brigham Young University aims to integrate optimal function and compliant mechanisms for improving the capabilities and accessibility of lower-limb powered prostheses. The key objectives are to: 1) create a robust optimization framework to design parallel springs...
This Project Grant award, funded by the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), supports research to understand the mechanisms that govern co-adaptation between humans and synthetic agents during interactive tasks. The $699,641 award, effective October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2027, will enable researchers at the University of Delaware to investigate how humans seamlessly interact with adaptive systems like brain-machine interfaces, prosthetics, and exoskeletons....