Biomechatronics Group

We know from early Roman mosaics that physical rehabilitation and amplification technologies have been used during much of recorded history. Although the goal of constructing such technologies is not new, great scientific and technological hurdles still remain. Even today, permanent assistive devices are viewed by the physically challenged as separate, lifeless mechanisms and not intimate extensions of the human body–structurally, neurologically, and dynamically. The Biomechatronics group seeks to advance technologies that promise to accelerate the merging of body and machine, including device architectures that resemble the body's own musculoskeletal design, actuator technologies that behave like muscle, and control methodologies that exploit principles of biological movement.