The Center for Rehabilitation Robotics develops robotic devices and therapies to improve the lives of people with disabilities. The largest of the center’s eight current projects is the development of a device that combines a robotic exoskeleton and a virtual reality program for neurorehabilitation of people with limited arm movement resulting from a stroke. Smaller projects on wearable robots focus on lower-extremity exoskeletons to restore walking to individuals following a stroke; epidural electrical stimulation to increase spinal cord transmission; the improved use of exoskeletons by people with spinal cord injury; and the study of new robotic technology for stroke therapy to be used in the home.
Researchers at the center are also designing new human-robot interfaces that allow people to control exoskeletons in a biologically natural way. Lastly, the organization Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy is backing a center project to equip 30 young men with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy with NJIT-developed exoskeletons that will extend the use of their arms for up to five years. The Kessler Foundation and Rutgers Department of Rehabilitation and Movement Science are major collaborators. The center’s work is supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research, among other agencies and organizations.