Development and testing of the aerial porter exoskeleton.

Back pain is one of the largest drivers of workplace injury and lost productivity in industries around the world. Back injuries were one of the leading reasons in resulting in days away from work at 38.5% across all occupations, increasing for manual laborers to 43%.

Spring over muscle (SOM) actuator for rehabilitation devices.

For people affected by stroke, frequent physical therapy has been shown to be an effective form of rehabilitation. To this goal, several home therapy devices have been developed. Many of these devices may benefit from the use of a bidirectional pneumatic muscle actuator.

An efficient robotic tendon for gait assistance.

A robotic tendon is a spring based, linear actuator in which the stiffness of the spring is crucial for its successful use in a lightweight, energy efficient, powered ankle orthosis. Like its human analog, the robotic tendon uses its inherent elastic nature to reduce both peak power and energy requirements for its motor. In the ideal example, peak power required of the motor for ankle gait is reduced from 250 W to just 77 W.

Methods to locate center of gravity in scoliosis.

Study Design: Prospective evaluation of the location of the center of gravity during supine, standing, and gait.

Objective: Develop methods to quantify center of gravity locations in patients with scoliosis and controls and to evaluate the merit of the quantitative assumptions relative to spinal fusion surgery.

Summary And Background Data: The center of gravity, or balance point of the body, is generally considered to be the single best estimate of the body's location.

Prospective evaluation of trunk range of motion in adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis undergoing spinal fusion surgery.

Study Design: Prospective evaluation of spinal range of motion in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis undergoing a spinal fusion.

Objective: Evaluate changes in triplanar spine range of motion following spinal fusion.

Summary And Background Data: Preoperative and postoperative radiographs have been the major form of outcome analysis of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis fusions.