The Director of the Rehabilitation Engineering Center at N.C. State University discusses restoring motor function with Smart Prosthetics in McCrary Theatre at 7 p.m.
Monday, March 12
Helen Huang, “Restoring Motor Function in Amputees with Smart Prosthetics”
McKinnon Hall, 7 p.m.
Voices of Discovery Science Speaker Series
As the director of the Rehabilitation Engineering Center at N.C. State University, Helen Huang’s chief research interest is understanding and developing neural-machine interfaces for applications that include artificial limbs and human-robot interactions. Huang’s research has been supported by several federal agencies including the Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health as well as private companies.
It is estimated there are more than 2 million amputees in the United States alone with about half attributed to consequences of vascular disease and about half to trauma including outcomes of warfare. There is a push in prosthetic limb development toward advanced robotics or smart prosthetics.
These increasingly bionic devices make use of neural-machine interfaces, such as myoelectric sensors, which enable the prosthetic device to respond to patient intent and function more intuitively with more flexible, adaptable movement patterns and with greater safety.