Abstract

One of the primary goals of stroke rehabilitation is the treatment of gait abnormalities. Numerous studies and associated technologies, such as wearable and treadmill-based exoskeleton robots, are being proposed. Still, there are high demands that outperform conventional rehabilitation techniques in terms of effectiveness and cost. In this invited talk, we propose a haptic biofeedback training scheme to improve balance, gait speed, gait symmetry, and muscle activation for trained subjects, either using haptic mode alone or in conjunction with robot devices. By using a fingertip contact with a force of less than one Newton, the Light Touch (LT) allows healthy users to obtain reference frame data that indicates the location and orientation of their present body centre. It supports balance instinctively and has been shown to be useful in the field of neuroscience both statically and dynamically. Thus, basic haptic biofeedback using LT can enhance patients' sense of balance, make up for reduced proprioception brought on by brain disorders like stroke, and allow patients to control their walking speed on level ground without the need for bulky exoskeletons. When compared to current rehabilitation robot devices, the haptic training scheme can be more affordable and facilitates rehabilitation training more effectively. It also enables the patient to start and effectively execute gait and balance training. It is anticipated to be a novel perspective on rehabilitation therapy that can overcome its current drawbacks and work in combination with other rehabilitation robots now in use. 

Bio

Professor Jungwon Yoon received the Ph.D. degree in mechatronics from Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju, South Korea, in 2005. From 2010 to 2011, he was a Visiting Fellow at Functional and Applied Biomechanics Section, Rehabilitation Medicine of Department, Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA. He was also a Senior Researcher in Electronics Telecommunication Research Institute (ETRI), Daejeon, South Korea, in 2005. From 2005 to 2017, he was a Professor with the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, South Korea. In 2017, he joined the School of Integrated Technology, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju, Korea, where he is currently a Professor. Since 2019, he has been the director of Research Center for Nanorobotics in Brain (RCNB) in GIST. His current research interests include haptic based gait rehabilitation robots and nano-robotics for biomedical applications. He has authored or coauthored more than 250 peer-reviewed international journal and conference articles. Dr. Yoon is an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Robotics and AI and served as a Technical Editor for IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.

Abstract

Soft robotics, particularly soft robotic wearables, is a rapidly evolving field transforming our perception of robotics. These robots, crafted from soft, compliant materials, possess infinite degrees of freedom, enabling them to interact with humans and delicate objects in a safer and more natural manner. In this talk, I will explore a range of innovative ideas developed in my group, including fabrication techniques, material development, actuator/sensor mechanisms, and modular, reconfigurable, bio-inspired systems. Additionally, I will discuss the technology readiness levels and commercialization potential of these concepts, illustrating how we have progressed from research lab prototypes to fully functional, industry-grade wearable systems with impactful applications across various industries.

Bio

Raye Yeow received his PhD in Bioengineering from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2010, completed his post-doctoral training in BioRobotics (Harvard University) from 2010-12, and was a Visiting Professor at CSAIL, MIT in 2023. He is the Dean’s Chair Professor and Deputy Head (Outreach & Industry) with the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Advanced Robotics Center, NUS.

He is the Program Lead for Soft and Hybrid Robotics under the National Robotics Programme Office (Singapore), and Vice-President for the Biomedical Engineering Society (Singapore). He served as the General Chair for the 6th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Soft Robotics in 2023. With the theme ‘Soft Robotics for Sustainable Development’, the conference comprised a series of plenary, podium and poster sessions with a sustainability forum, women in soft robotics panel, soft robotics industry panel, as well as robotics competition and expo. The conference has, for the 1st time, attracted >430 attendees, signifying a growing global soft robotics community.

His research group specializes in soft robotics, with focus on fundamental mechanisms and building market-ready systems. He has published >200 journal and conferences papers, with >70 local/international media reports and >40 research-innovation awards on his soft robotics work, e.g. Young Scientist @ World Laureates Forum 2020, Technology Innovation, Applied Research and Young Creator Awards @ IES Prestigious Engineering Achievement Awards 2017-18, and MIT TR35 Asia 2016. He co-founded 4 soft robotics startups (Roceso, RO+, ArmasTec and Seamless XR) that are translating his technologies into the healthcare, food assembly, logistics and entertainment sectors.

Abstract

The convenient form factor of wrist-worn devices has enabled their ubiquity. Overcoming limitations in their current haptic actuation and sensing capabilities would facilitate even broader use. This talk presents some of my past and ongoing research in each of these directions for wrist wearables. First, the alerts delivered by such devices are currently limited to simple haptic vibrations. About 14 years ago, Andrew Stanley and I created a set of devices that could tap on, drag along, squeeze, and twist the wearer's wrist. Built from servos, stiff 3D-printed parts, and straps, these bulky and noisy devices nonetheless convinced us of the potential of making and breaking contact with and pressing on the user's skin, particularly because users preferred these sensations over vibrations from eccentric rotating-mass motors. Recently, Natalia Sanchez-Tamayo, Zachary Yoder, Philipp Rothemund, Giulia Ballardini, Christoph Keplinger, and I adapted the principles of HASEL actuators to create a Cutaneous Electrohydraulic (CUTE) wrist-wearable device. Its internal soft actuator makes and breaks contact, presses, and vibrates with independent amplitude and frequency control up to 200 Hz, thereby delivering highly recognizable and pleasant haptic cues in a compact, comfortable, and silent package. On the sensing side, Paola Forte, Yasemin Vardar, Bernard Javot, and I have been working to test the utility of wrist-to-wrist bioimpedance measurements for detecting self-touch, a phenomenon important for human pose reconstruction, disease transmission, psychological assessment, and on-body interfaces. Since the human body is conductive, contact between the user's hands or between a hand and the face introduces an additional electrical pathway between the wrists. Thus, a wearable device can quickly and reliably register self-touch by analyzing wrist-to-wrist bioimpedance in real time. These and other advancements in wearable actuation and sensing promise to bring digital technology even closer to the human body.

Bio

Katherine J. Kuchenbecker is a Director at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) in Stuttgart, Germany, and an Honorary Professor at the University of Stuttgart. She earned her Ph.D. at Stanford University in 2006, did postdoctoral research at the Johns Hopkins University, and was an engineering professor in the GRASP Lab at the University of Pennsylvania from 2007 to 2016. Her research blends haptics, teleoperation, physical human-robot interaction, tactile sensing, and medical applications. She delivered a TEDYouth talk on haptics in 2012 and has been honored with a 2009 NSF CAREER Award, the 2012 IEEE RAS Academic Early Career Award, a 2014 Penn Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, elevation to IEEE Fellow in 2021, and various best paper, poster, demonstration, and reviewer awards. She co-chaired the IEEE Haptics Symposium in 2016 and 2018 and is Editor-in-Chief of the 2025 IEEE World Haptics Conference.

Bio

Kyu-Jin Cho received the B.S and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea, in 1998 and 2000, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA, in 2007. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow with Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory until 2008. He is currently a Professor of mechanical engineering and the Director of BioRobotics Laboratory, Seoul National University, and the Director of Soft Robotic Research Center. 

His research interests include biologically inspired robotics, soft robotics, soft wearable devices, novel mechanisms using smart structures, and rehabilitation/assistive robotics.

Abstract

Efficient locomotion methods have been proposed to compensate for the limited space in real-world environments, and such methods offer users more immersive and natural experiences in relatively large virtual environments. The foot-based locomotion method is one of the best options for implementing natural locomotion using foot movement as an input. However, existing foot-based locomotion methods force users to wear equipment or take a video of the user’s body. These actions can cause discomfort, unnatural feelings, or privacy problems. Thus, we propose a Seamless-walk system that can seamlessly translate a real-world gait action to locomotion signals using a high-resolution tactile carpet sensor without requiring wearable equipment. The proposed method captures and analyzes high-resolution footprint information using a machine learning technique and calculates the user’s movement direction and speed in a real-time manner. In addition, the modular structure of Seamless-walk enables scalable installation of a tactile sensing platform at reasonable cost. Human tests (n = 80) confirmed that the proposed Seamless-walk system’s technical advantage increases usability. A 3D virtual world exploration game experiment revealed that the proposed method significantly increases comfort and overall naturalness. Additionally, the proposed method has no negative effects on exploration suitability, task load, simulator sickness, or the game experience.

Bio

Professor KyungJoong Kim received the Ph.D. degree in computer science from Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea, in 2007. From 2007 to 2009, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell University's Computational Synthesis Laboratory, USA. He was also a visiting scholar in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA, in 2015~2016. From 2009 to 2019, he was an assistant/associate professor with Computer Engineering, Sejong University, Seoul, South Korea. In 2019, he joined the School of Integrated Technology, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju, Korea, where he is currently an Associate Professor. Since 2023, he has been the director of Korea Culture Technology Institute (KCTI) in GIST. His current research interests include game artificial intelligence, procedural content generation, and human computer interaction. Dr. Kim is an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Games and served as a co-general chair for IEEE Conference on Games 2020.

Bio

Holly Yanco is a Professor in the Computer Science Department at UMass Lowell, joining the faculty in July 2001. She is also the director of the New England Robotics Validation and Experimentation (NERVE) Center.  She founded the Human-Robot Interaction Lab which consists of students at all stages of their careers, from freshmen to doctoral candidates. 

Dr. Yanco's research interests include human-robot interaction, better visualization of sensor data, adjustable autonomy, urban search and rescue, assistive technology, and robotics education. Her lab is funded by the National Science Foundation, the Army Research Office, Microsoft and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Dr. Yanco co-developed the Artbotics program, which combines art and computer science in a curriculum for high school and college students. She was the PI of the NSF-funded (DUE-0231363) development of Pyro, a Python-based robotics curriculum, which was selected as the Premier Courseware of 2005 by NEEDS. She has received teaching awards from UMass Lowell and MIT.

She is the General Chair of the 2012 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. She has served on the Executive Council of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (2006-2009), as the Symposium Chair for AAAI (2002-2005) and as the Exhibition Co-Chair of the ACM/IEEE Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (2007-2009).

Prior to joining the UMass Lowell faculty, Dr. Yanco taught at Boston College, ArsDigita University and Wellesley College. She received her PhD (2000) and MS degrees from MIT and her BS degree from Wellesley College, all in Computer Science.