Imperial College London

Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London. Members with interest in musculoskeletal frailty (Dr Bull, Professor Amis, Dr Hansen, Dr Shefelbine), upper limb biomechanics (Dr Bull, Mr Emery, Dr Hansen), neurorehabilitation and related neuroscience and robotics (Dr Burdet + 12 PhD students and collaborators at UCL). The Neuro-mechanical Control lab of the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial is well equipped with various sensors, camera-based measurement system, haptic interfaces and a fMRI compatible interface. A well-equipped mechatronics lab is available to develop robotic systems for dedicated applications.

This group will contribute in providing modeling to back up both the mechanics of the movement (physiological, pathological, and actuator-driven), the neural control of movement, and assistive devices for upper limb rehabilitation, wheelchairs etc.

Dr. Bull is Reader since 2005. He has developed robust mathematical methods of describing joint kinematics and whole-body movement in clinical terms, using information from different modalities including MRI, ultrasound (Young Investigator Prize at the 2002 Conference of the European Society of Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology and Arthroscopy), electron beam CT scanning (President’s Prize for best paper, 2003). He has also studied the function and mechanics of structures using a series of cadaveric experiments to quantify the mechanics of tissues of the knee and shoulder joint that are ill understood. Dr. Bull has developed mathematical models of joints, surgery, and whole-body mechanics that have been applied to tibial tubercle transfer surgery of the knee joint. Clinical studies are now being planned in hospitals in the US and the UK.

Dr. Etienne Burdet is Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London since 2005 and a Senior Research Fellow at the National University of Singapore. Dr. Burdet does research in human robotics and his main interest is in human-machine interaction. His group uses an approach integrating neuroscience and robotics to: i) investigate human motor control and ii) design efficient assistive devices and virtual reality based training for rehabilitation and surgery. This approach has generated?significant achievements, including:
• a comprehensive method for the modeling and?adaptive control of parallel manipulators, which is used in industrial parallel robots such as the ABB IRB 340.
• the first clear evidence?and computational model of how humans use impedance learning to?control movements in unstable situations (Nature 414: 446-9).
• the first fMRI-compatible haptic interfaces, which are used in five labs in Japan and Europe in order investigate the neural mechanisms of human motor control and rehabilitation.
• robotic devices for decentralized rehabilitation of hand function in home and rehabilitation centers (best paper award at IROS06, the dominant conference for robotics applications).
• A low-cost robotic wheelchair system based on path guidance assistance, which was shown to significantly reduce the effort necessary to control the wheelchair and was successfully tested by cerebral palsy and traumatic brain injury individuals.
• The first brain controlled wheelchair able to manoeuvre in a building environment.