UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal: Submission #791

Research Mentor Information
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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): https://cre.fsu.edu/system/files/webform/urop_project_proposal_portal/14581/Headshot.jpg

Additional Research Mentor(s)
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Overall Project Details
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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)::
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Are you interested in participating in the UROP Research Mentor Roundtable?: No
Roundtable times and Zoom links:
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UROP Program Elements
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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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