Personalised assistive technology to improve balance and mobility

Principal Advisor: Dr Taylor Dick

Research group: Dick Group - Neuromuscular biomechanics

Organisational unit: School of Biomedical Sciences

The promise of successfully augmenting human locomotion with wearable assistive technologies is getting closer to reality. Lower-limb exoskeletons represent a class of wearable technology that apply assistance in parallel with muscle-tendon units. These devices aim to optimise physical performance, for example, via reducing the metabolic cost or lowering musculoskeletal loads, but hurdles still remain.

We are seeking highly motivated students to work as part of a collaborative research team exploring how the human neuromuscular system adapts neural control and mechanics of movement to integrate the assistance of wearable robotics (Exoskeletons) during walking and balance. The proposed research is multi-disciplinary, drawing on principles from biomechanics, motor control, and bioengineering.

Successful applicants will work within the Motor Control and Biomechanics research group which combines Dr Taylor Dick’s Neuromuscular Biomechanics Research and Associate Professor Kylie Tucker’s Motor Control and Pain Research. Our research laboratories are filled with a suite of state-of-the-art technologies for comprehensive assessment of neuromuscular function and movement.