Edgar A. Bolívar-Nieto, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

University of Notre Dame

*Note: this website is a snapshot of my professional interests before joining the University of Notre Dame. The main purpose is to share this page with people that may be in the market for faculty positions and may consider this website as a sample. For updated content, please visit www.werolab.nd.edu

Old Content:

Research Fellow

Locomotor Control Systems Laboratory

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Robotics Institute

University of Michigan

https://twitter.com/ebolivarn

My research mission

Enable people with lower limb amputation or neuromuscular disorders to improve locomotion using wearable robots

In a sentence, what does Edgar research?

Optimal robust design and control of wearable robots

How?

Elasticity is at the core of our approach. In the same manner that muscles benefit from the elasticity of tendons to be more efficient, traditional actuators such as electric motors can benefit when used in combination with elastic elements. Series elastic actuators and variable impedance actuators are important examples of this approach. Despite the development of this technology during the last two decades, it is far from mature. Within the locomotor control systems laboratory, we propose to merge an optimization-based design/control and dielectric elastomer variable stiffness actuators to provide high performance actuation for wearable robots.

For more information please check the research page for a list of publications.