Dan Newman | Michigan Robotics

Building an ecosystem for the Open-Source Leg

July 10, 2024

University of Michigan researchers received a $1M grant to develop and expand the ecosystem around the Open-Source Leg, a lower-limb robotic prosthesis developed at U-M. The device offers researchers standardized hardware and software for lower-limb prosthetics research, reducing the barriers to improving powered prosthetics and enabling their adoption.

“This grant is a key step toward engaging the wider research community–developing the infrastructure for an open-source project is challenging both to fund and create, and we’re very thankful for the continued NSF POSE award,” said Elliott Rouse, professor of robotics and mechanical engineering, and principal investigator on the grant.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Pathway to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE) program, which awarded the grant, focuses on facilitating, creating, and growing open-source ecosystems out of open-source products. This includes building out sustainable governance, a cohesive community of developers, and a broad base of users.

Professor Elliott Rouse, center, speaks with Kevin Best, left, a Robotics PhD, and Senthur Ayyappan, right, who works with Rouse on the Open-Source leg. The leg is being worn by first year Mechanical Engineering PhD student Andrew Seelhoff. Photo: Brenda Ahearn.

“The Open-Source Leg project has both hardware, in robotic leg design, and software, in control infrastructure, which makes it a very unique open-source project. As part of the POSE project, we’ve recently launched a new project website that showcases our approach to open source hardware and software,” added Rouse.

The Open-Source Leg project launched in 2019. The team focused on creating a “simple, low cost, and portable, yet high-performance” device, and shared the designs, parts list, and instructions on how to build the device online for other researchers to use.

“The Open-Source Leg enables researchers to more easily study and compare different control strategies without the prohibitive cost of developing a robotic leg from scratch,” said Rouse.

Since its launch, the team has designed an updated version of the device, and also partnered with Humotech for those who would rather purchase a completed prosthesis with full service and support. Fifteen institutions from five different countries already use the device for research.

Following a POSE Phase I grant for the Open Source Leg, which funded initial planning and website development to strengthen user collaboration, the POSE Phase II grant will target the project’s scalability and sustainability. Using this grant, the team aims to build upon its tools and further establish a sustainable ecosystem. This includes fostering community engagement projects and events, enhancing the project’s digital infrastructure and deployment, and position the project for long-term success.

“We are thrilled to begin our POSE Phase II efforts,” said Senthur Ayyapan, a research engineer in the Neurobionics Lab.

“Our goal is for the Open-Source Leg project to address larger challenges across engineering, education, and open-source,” Ayyapan said.

“Inspired by how the Linux Foundation democratized computing and sparked countless innovations, we want to democratize access to robotics research on a broader scale, fostering breakthroughs that can transform lives.”

Researchers interested in the Open-Source Leg can join the project community at opensourceleg.org.

New faculty joining Michigan Robotics

June 27, 2024

The Robotics Department at the University of Michigan thrives on the principle that collaboration multiplies the quality and impact of our work, and we’re excited to announce new faculty who each bring their own teaching and research expertise to the program.

Faculty joining us this year and next include:

Bernadette Bucher
Steven Ceron
Xiaoxiao Du
Yulun Tian

Katherine Skinner awarded NSF CAREER grant

June 14, 2024

Two researchers on a boat, as one of them points to the sonar data they are collecting on a screen. — Professor Katie Skinner discusses the freshly captured footage of a shipwreck Montana on board of the research vessel R/V Storm in Thunder Bay, Lake Huron. Photo by Marcin Szczepanski.

Katherine (Katie) Skinner, assistant professor of robotics, was awarded the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant for a project titled “CAREER: Adaptive Multimodal Fusion for Robust Robot Perception in Underwater Environments”, which aims “to provide new capabilities for marine robotic systems to map, visualize, and navigate underwater sites autonomously.”

“These new capabilities will be achieved using innovative machine learning methods to simultaneously capture the robot’s surroundings and pinpoint the robot’s location by combining acoustic and visual information,” the award abstract states.

“Project outcomes will be demonstrated for use in archaeology by mapping historically significant shipwreck sites. The results will also apply to tasks such as underwater construction, infrastructure maintenance, and emergency response.”

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Simulation training improves performance in robotic exoskeletons

June 13, 2024

Legs of a user walking on a two-track treadmill in a lab wearing powered ankle exoskeletons.

Researchers at North Carolina State University have demonstrated a new method that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and computer simulations to train robotic exoskeletons to autonomously help users save energy for versatile activities such as walking, running, and climbing stairs. The work was done in collaboration with the University of Michigan and other institutions.

“This work proposes and demonstrates a new machine learning framework that bridges the gap between simulation and reality to autonomously control wearable robots to improve mobility and well being of humans,” says Hao Su, corresponding author of a paper on this work published in the journal Nature and associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at North Carolina State University

Elliott Rouse, associate professor of robotics and mechanical engineering at University of Michigan, is a co-author on the paper.

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Nima Fazeli awarded NSF CAREER grant

June 7, 2024

Nima Fazeli in his lab shows visitors a robotic arm equipped with special touch sensors. Photo: Brenda Ahearn/University of Michigan, College of Engineering, Communications and Marketing

Nima Fazeli, assistant professor of robotics, was awarded the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant for a project “to realize intelligent and dexterous robots that seamlessly integrate vision and touch.”

“Touch provides robots with a wealth of knowledge from physical interactions and in many tasks it is crucial for success (e.g., reaching into a pocket or rummaging in through a grocery bag),” the award abstract states. “Integrating touch with the rapid progress in vision will accelerate the deployment of skilled and reliable robots from research settings into the real-world.”

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