In a new research lab, there’s a lot of set up and preparation required before we can make much research progress. Most of our effort in the past year was focused on the preparation. Last January, we set up our motion capture system, which includes infrared motion capture cameras and sensors for recording muscle activity (electromyograms). From January to August, Dr. Crouch was approved to perform some new experiments, and we were able to collect pilot data needed to support our grant proposals.

Patrick Hall, a graduate student in the lab, finished collecting biomechanical data from 15 human research participants, who moved their shoulders with some assistance force (as might be provided by an exoskeleton). He plans to complete an analysis of this data in the next few months so that he can publish it in a journal article.

Morteza Asgari, another graduate student, performed some testing of a new machine learning-based prosthesis control algorithm. He also has worked in the past 3 months on a shoulder exoskeleton prototype. He hopes to complete the prototype soon so that he can test it and share his results through a journal article.

Alli Nelson, a former research assistant in the lab, was accepted in to the graduate program in Biomedical Engineering at Virginia Tech. She started there in August. Shortly after leaving, she submitted a journal article on her computational simulation work on the biomechanical effects of a shoulder exoskeleton.

There were about 12 undergraduate students who worked in the lab. Many of them have done a lot of work and will hopefully be able to author or co-author a journal article before they graduate.

The lab attended 4 professional meetings: Mid-South Biomechanics Conference (Memphis, TN), Progress in Clinical Motor Control (State College, PA), the American Society of Biomechanics/International Shoulder Group Meeting (Rochester, MN), and the Biomedical Engineering Society meeting (Atlanta, GA).

A few lab members won awards this past year. Alli Nelson received a travel award to attend and present at the International Shoulder Group meeting. Patrick Hall received a travel award to attend and present at the Progress in Clinical Motor Control meeting. Dr. Crouch received the IREK12 award, which provides funding for salary support and research expenses as well as mentoring and professional development resources.

We are all excited about the progress we’ve made, but are even more excited for what 2019 will bring. Stay tuned for more updates as our lab grows and becomes more productive!