Control of Human Muscle via Electrical Stimulation 

[IEEE CSS Video Clip Contest 2014 Submission]
Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES) is a technique used to generate desired muscle contractions via electrical stimulus and has potential to facilitate improved limb control and functionality for people with spinal cord injury, stroke, and other neurological disorder. The purpose of NMES research in the Nonlinear Control and Robotics (NCR) laboratory is to develop nonlinear control methods for artificial stimulation of human skeletal muscle. Our research focuses on using different computer-controlled stimulation methods to enable a human limbs to follow a desired trajectory. Electrodes are placed on human muscles and an electrical signal is applied to induce a contraction to make the limb follow a specified trajectory. This research is motivated by the desire to both restore and augment human performance through machine interaction.
Collaborative multidisciplinary efforts are being coordinated with the UF Department of Physical Therapy, the UF Center for Movement Disorders & Neurorestoration, and the VA-Brooks Human Performance Laboratory, Gainesville, FL.
For further details on this research, including publications, please visit: ncr.mae.ufl.edu
This research is supported in part by NSF award number 1161260. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsoring agency.