Prof. David J. Braun
David J. Braun received the Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA, in 2009. He is Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Vanderbilt University (VU). Prior to joining VU, he was visiting researcher at the Institute for Robotics and Mechatronics at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), postdoctoral research fellow at the Statistical Machine Learning and Motor Control Group (SLMC) at the University of Edinburgh, and Assistant Professor at Singapore University of Technology and Design. Dr. Braun’s research interests include dynamical systems, optimal control, and robotics.
He received the 2014 IEEE Transactions on Robotics Best Paper Award. He was Scientific Program Co-Chair of the 2015 IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, Area Chair for the 2018 Robotics Science and Systems Conference, and Associate Editor for the 2020 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.
Compliant Actuation for Human Performance Augmentation
One way to imagine human augmentation is to consider an energetically active robot that supplements muscle power with external energy. Another way to imagine human augmentation is to consider solely human-powered energetically passive devices; two examples are bicycles and ice-skates. In this talk, I will discuss the hidden potential of an emerging human-powered compliant actuation concept, and its potential to enable the creation of better human augmentation devices.