Welcome to the RNE Lab homepage!
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Research in the Rehab Neural Engineering Lab
is committed to advancing rehabilitation science and
practice through scientific discovery and the development
of new technologies for assisting and restoring motor
function after nervous system injury and limb loss.
Fundamental to this mission, is the study of movement
control at the neural and biomechanical levels.
The RNE Lab is a state-of-the-art facility for studying the
neurophysiology and biomechanics of walking and reaching. A
256-channel neural recording system (TDT, Inc.) is used to
record simultaneously the single-unit activity of large
numbers of neurons, enabling a thorough inspection of the
neural network activities responsible for the transmission
and processing of information related to sensing and
controlling movement. 3-D limb kinematics are measured with
a six camera Vicon motion analysis system, and contact
forces are measured with ATI force/torque transducers. The
kinematic and force data are also used as inputs to
mathematical models of the limb musculoskeleton, which
allow us to estimate the specific contributions of
individual muscles in propelling and regulating the
recorded movements. The combined data sets provide a
comprehensive view of the neural and mechanical processes
and their interactions in the generation and control of
limb movement.
Dr. Weber has also completed work related to harvesting
extra energy from walking. His publication has been
accepted into Science, although is not yet published. A
startup company based on this technology can be found at
the link below.
http://www.bionic-power.com/