Cleveland State University (CSU), Ohio, held the grand opening for its new motion and control lab on July 20. CSU received $1.5 million from Cleveland-based Parker Hannifin last year to renovate the lab and fund an endowed professorship to increase the study of human motion. The company has pledged another $2 million to staff and equip the lab, which bears its name.
Antonie J. van den Bogert, PhD, is the Parker Hannifin Endowed Chair in Human Motion and Control, and oversees the lab. According to an article on Cleveland.com, the aims of the new lab, with its high-tech treadmill and motion-capture cameras, is to develop computerized “smart” prosthetic limbs that mimic the abilities of natural ones, and motorized, wearable robotic exoskeletons that could help people with paralysis walk, rehabilitate stroke victims, or stop weak or elderly patients from falling. The Cleveland.com article went on to say that van den Bogert is working with two CSU engineering professors on the development of a smart prosthetic limb for individuals with transfemoral amputations.
