PhD position at Heidelberg University (Germany) within the Research Training Group LokoAssist

PhD position at Heidelberg University (Germany) within the Research Training Group LokoAssist

“Seamless integration of assistive systems for natural locomotion of humans”

Technical University of Darmstadt & Heidelberg University

Overview

We are fascinated by supporting people with new technologies and are keen to advance approaches for motion assistance. Leg prostheses, orthoses and exoskeletons become active locomotion assistance systems by individually and situation-specifically detecting their users’ movements and providing them with appropriate force/torque support. The research in our RTG LokoAssist has received funding by the German Science Foundation (DFG) through a highly competitive process. It aims at a “seamless” integration of assistive devices into the human body schema. This requires an automatic recognition of different movement intentions to create an intuitive and predictable motor behavior. Such assistive systems promise a significantly expanded range of motion with lower metabolic energy expenditure, better individual adaptability, and greater ease of movement.

While this potential has so far not been fully tapped, the RTG