Faculty:
Mo Rastgaar, Ph.D.
Professor
Director, Human-Interactive Robotics Lab (HIRoLab)
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Mo Rastgaar is a professor and the director of Human-Interactive Robotics Lab (HIRoLab) at the Polytechnic Institute at Purdue University. He received his PhD in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech in 2008. His research goal is to further the critical understanding of the dynamics of gait, especially during different maneuvers, through experiments with human subjects and modeling. The outcomes of his research are design, fabrication, and control of lower extremity assistive and rehabilitation devices for enhanced agility and improved mobility.
Research Interests: Dynamic systems and controls, Human-robot interactions, Autonomous Systems, Robotic prostheses, Assistive robotics
PhD Students:
Guilherme Aramizo Ribeiro
Guilherme is a Visiting Scholar at the Polytechnic Institute at Purdue University and a PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering at Michigan Technological University. He received his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Michigan Tech (thesis: Control of a Powered Ankle-Foot Prosthesis: From Perception to Impedance Modulation) and B.S. in Mechatronics Engineering at Federal University of Uberlandia, Brazil. He studies the biomechanical properties of the human ankle and computer vision technologies to assist the control of robotic ankle-foot prostheses.
Lauren Knop
Lauren is a PhD Candidate in Mechanical Engineering at Michigan Technological University and a Visiting Scholar at the Polytechnic Institute at Purdue University. She has received her M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Tech and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Valparaiso University. Her work focuses on understanding how the lower extremity muscle EMG signals can be related to the biomechanical properties of the human ankle during locomotion. Throughout her research, she has worked on a number of projects that have involved the experimental design, data collection, and data processing from human subjects.
Gabriel Andres Torres Rivera
Gabriel is PhD student in Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University. He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico - Mayagüez in 2019. His work focuses on designing dynamic response modulation units, using magneto-sensitive smart materials, for robotic ankle-foot prostheses. In his spare time, Gabriel enjoys playing tennis, volleyball and musical instruments.
Ahmed Soliman
Ahmed is a PHD student in Mechatronics Engineering Technology at Purdue University Polytechnic Institute. He received his B.S. in Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering Technology at Purdue University Polytechnic Institute in May 2019. He studies the use of 6-DOF Stewart platform to emulate gait for systematic evaluation of design, control, and dynamic characteristics of lower extremity robotic prostheses. Through his research, he works on projects that involve impedance control of assistive robots, robotic manipulators design, simulation, data acquisition, and data analysis.
M.S. Students:
Maria Nieves Brunet
Maria is a Master of Science student in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Purdue University. She was awarded the Fulbright Scholarship to pursue her graduate studies. She has received her B.S. degree in Electronics from the National University of Rosario in Argentina. Her degree concentration is on Automatic Control Systems. For her research project, she is working with computer vision and detection algorithms, applicable to the control of autonomous UAVs.
B.S. Students:
Jehan Shah
Jehan is an undergraduate student in the school of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University. He is interested in exploring computer vision technologies and their application to control systems. For his research, he is working on implementing deep learning to classify skin grafts for burn victims.