UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal: Submission #791 | Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement

Submission information

Submission Number: 791

Submission ID: 14581

Submission UUID: 84be99cb-158f-4776-9612-84166c8c6624

Submission URI: /urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal

Submission Update: /urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal?token=yI3xEY4-nGG9o3nCwA-RhQR02retzMjTJsqqvijO3ps

Created: Thu, 08/15/2024 - 10:00 AM

Completed: Thu, 08/15/2024 - 10:02 AM

Changed: Thu, 10/24/2024 - 11:02 AM

Remote IP address: 144.174.214.38

Submitted by: Anonymous

Language: English

Is draft: No

Webform: UROP Project Proposal Portal

Submitted to: UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal

Research Mentor Information

Primary Research Mentor Name Taylor Higgins

Research Mentor Preferred Pronouns She/her

When potential research assistants are reaching out via email, what is your preferred honorific? Dr. or Prof.

Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated) th22u@fsu.edu

Position Title Faculty

FSU College (if applicable) FAMU-FSU College of Engineering

FSU Department or Non-FSU Organization Affiliation Florida State University

Headshot (optional)

Additional Research Mentor(s)

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Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Pronouns {Empty}

Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Honorific? {Empty}

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Name of Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) (if applicable) {Empty}

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Overall Project Details

Title of the Project Robotic Unicycle for Studying Human Motor Learning

Project Keywords Robotics, prosthetics, exoskeletons, human robot interaction, motor learning, mechatronics

Are you currently looking for research assistants? No

Number of Research Assistants Needed 2

Relevant Research Assistant Major(s) Mechanical/electrical/biomedical engineering and computer science.

Project Location: AME Building (2003 Levy Ave. Tallahasse, FL)

If the project location is off campus, does the research assistant(s) need to provide their own transportation? Yes

Please select the choice that most accurately describes your expectations for the research assistant(s): Partially Remote

Approximately how many hours a week would the research assistant(s) need to work? 5-10 (negotiable)

Roughly what time frame do you expect research assistant(s) to work? Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)

Overall Research Project Description Technologies like rehabilitation exoskeletons aim to help humans to regain motor skills that have been lost because of injury or disease. One skill of particular interest is to re-train how to walk. Walking is a challenging dynamic task involving multiple degrees-of-freedom needing to coordinate in order to achieve forward movement without falling. In order to study how humans learn to perform tasks like this, we are studying the biomechanics and motor learning involved in the development of a similarly dynamic and tricky task – learning to ride a unicycle. We have developed a human subject experiment where are collecting human motion capture and other biomechanics-related signals as subjects learn to ride a unicycle under various conditions. We are also developing a robotically powered unicycle so that we can study the effect of robotic assistance during the development of the skill. The idea is that with this platform, we can answer questions about robotically assisted motor learning that will be useful across many robotic assistance platforms such as exoskeletons.

Research Tasks Researchers will need to help me to add a few extra sensors to the unicycle so that we can collect more data as subjects learn to ride it. Specifically, we will need to collect data from an IMU and an encoder using a Raspberry Pi. This is mainly a MECHATRONICS task/project.

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: No need to know how to ride a unicycle! I do need someone who is interested in mechatronics.

Mentoring Philosophy As a mentor, I work best with students who are inquisitive, pro-active, and problem solvers. I do not like to micro-manage. I see my job as being a resource to my research students, helping to solve problems when stuck, providing overall vision, and occasionally giving nudges in the right direction. I see my students as the expert in their given project, and I expect students to go learn skills, find possible solutions, try many things that may or may not work, and ultimately to come to research meetings ready to teach me all the cool things they’ve learned, tried, and developed. I aim to creating a safe environment in which mentees feel that it is acceptable to fail and learn from their mistakes. I do expect mentees to take ownership of their work and have accountability for their effort in the project. Overall, I want to do fun engineering work that makes a difference in human lives, and I want my students to feel empowered to do difficult things and solve challenging problems.

Please provide a link to your publications, a video clip, or a website for your research project (if applicable): https://rthmlab.wixsite.com/taylorgambon

Please add any additional information here (if applicable): {Empty}

Are you interested in participating in the UROP Research Mentor Roundtable? No

Roundtable times and Zoom links {Empty}

UROP Program Elements

Mentor Handbook, FAQs, and Communication Yes

UROP Performance Evaluation Yes

Materials Grant Yes

UROP Poster Presentation Yes

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Year 2024

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