Conor J. Walsh, PhD, an assistant professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and a core faculty member at Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, has received a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The $500,000 award is from NSF’s General and Age Related Disabilities Engineering (GARDE) program. The funds will be used to support Walsh’s research on a lightweight, soft robotic glove that can help with rehabilitation of impaired hand function or assist people in performing activities of daily living. Walsh’s team will collaborate with clinical partners to test prototypes of the system on a variety of patients, such as those who have suffered a stroke or have muscular dystrophy.
The exosuit conforms to the body, allowing for natural joint movement while augmenting effectiveness. Photograph courtesy of Harvard’s Wyss Institute.
Walsh’s work focuses on applying soft robotic systems to help individuals overcome disabilities and to augment the performance of able-bodied people. “Traditional robotic systems don’t translate easily from industrial settings to medical and home applications,” said Walsh. “One of the main reasons is because rigid components pose safety risks for people. We are overcoming that hurdle by designing soft robotic systems made of elastomers, fibers, and textiles. A major aim of this work is to advance the state of the art of wearable robotics and intuitive human-robot interaction.”
“Conor’s work on soft wearable robotics has set a new paradigm for assistive systems through the design of devices that are fully compatible with humans,” said Donald Ingber, MD, PhD, Wyss Institute’s founding director. “It’s great to see the National Science Foundation honor Conor for his pioneering work in the field of robotics, which has been truly visionary.”
Walsh and his team are also working on a soft exosuit that can provide locomotion assistance (part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Warrior Web project); the modeling and design of fluidic-based soft robotics for cardiac applications; and applying mesoscale manufacturing approaches to the design of smart medical tools for the minimally invasive diagnosis and treatment of disease. (Editor’s note: To read more about the exosuit development, read “Harvard’s Wyss Institute Awarded DARPA Contract to Advance Exosuit.”)
