As state-of-the-art robotic prostheses and exoskeletons become lighter, stronger, and smarter, their potential to transform human mobility continues to increase. But before these devices can achieve widespread adoption as clinical or argumentative tools, there are several important barriers to address. In my research, I address two of these main challenges: 1) optimizing the robotic assistance for each individual user and task, and 2) translating control methods outside the laboratory environment. In this talk, I will discuss what it means to provide optimal assistance with a wearable robot, specifically focusing on defining appropriate physiological cost functions (e.g., reduce the metabolic cost of the user). I will also present new methods to quantify relevant physiological cost functions outside the laboratory environment, leveraging wearable sensors and user preference.

Kim Ingraham is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Michigan in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Robotics Institute. She will defend her dissertation in May 2021. She is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship recipient. Prior to beginning graduate school, she worked as a Research Engineer in the Center for Bionic Medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (formerly the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago). Kim is interested in utilizing robotics, classical biomechanics, and wearable sensing technologies to generate solutions for clinical mobility-related challenges.