Located at the 4th Academic Building (AB4), Ozyegin University, Istanbul, the Biomechatronics Laboratory aims to enhance the quality of life of humans that experience physical difficulties in general. To this end, the particular research philosophy we follow is the synthesis of feasible human-robot symbiosis so as to physically assist humans in a safe and dependable manner. With this motivation in mind, our research activities involve in mechatronic hardware design and manufacturing, mathematical modeling, biomechanically feasible sensor-actuator interface design, system identification, real-time controller synthesis, motion planning, simulation and experiment studies and data analysis. Main research topics in our group can be listed as below:

  • Lower body exoskeleton development for complete paraplegia support (with no crutches)
  • Physical human-robot collaboration for impedance-critical tasks
  • Push recovery and online stabilization for legged systems
  • Simulating pathological gaits to extract patient-specific walking trajectories
  • Low-impedance actuator development with a high power-to-weight ratio

In addressing these research goals, we prioritize the notion of human-friendly robotics, a design and control concept in which humans and robots safely co-exist and co-operate. Therefore, human-coupled stability, inherent compliance, and environmental adaptability are chiefly regarded.

PROJECTS

Upper Body Exoskeleton

Wearable exoskeleton robots appear to be efficient in robot-aided rehabilitation tasks, in particular, for regaining motor control abilities following a stroke. Present-day exoskeleton robots are specifically built for a single task and they are powered via rigid actuators. The main purpose of this study is to advance the present-day exoskeleton technology by designing and manufacturing a multi-functional upper limb exoskeleton robot that is powered via actuators with series elasticity and high torque density. The proposed system will be used as a therapeutic tool for passive, active and assist-as-needed robot-aided rehabilitation tasks, and as well as a diagnostic tool for motor control diseases. Furthermore, it will serve as a power augmentation tool thanks to its high-torque output actuators. Its passive compliant structures with series elasticity not only allows high fidelity force control but also makes the robot inherently safe, compared to its rigid counterparts. The study includes three phases: i) Design and manufacturing of a series elastic actuator module. ii) Mechatronic hardware design and realization for the exoskeleton robot. iii) Synthesis of control algorithms, together with the analyses of robustness and stability. As the result of this project, a stable and safe robotic exoskeleton system will be obtained to initiate clinical trials.

Lower Body Exoskeleton

There are 150.000 spinal cord injury patients in Turkey and 8,2 million in worldwide. Due to physiological disorders that come along with this disease, patients experience serious health issues and their quality of life is negatively affected. In response to this matter, the exoskeletons that are developed within the last decade were proven to be functional and useful in providing robot-aided walking support. This introduced several key improvements in patients’ health and quality of life. With this in mind, the ability to develop such an exoskeleton robot in our country enables us to significantly advance in health and technological development indices. The purpose of this project is to design and implement a new generation lower body exoskeleton robot that could be used to provide robot-aided walking support for those who suffer paraplegia or similar pathological lower body diseases. In line with this purpose, the main objective of this project is to develop and synergistically integrate necessary scientific methods, physical hardware and technological elements.By considering this crucial objective, this project is aimed at developing a novel lower body exoskeleton robot that has advanced capabilities, such as, providing 3D walking support with no auxiliary tools, active self-balancing, and possessing competent actuator units.

Human-Friendly Manipulation

The CoMRAde Project is supported by EU H2020-MSCA-IF-2016 (MARIE SkLodowska-CURIE ACTIONS Individual Fellowships) The main objective of this project is to develop a mobile manipulator that can effectively learn impedance critical tasks by means of physical interactions with a human, and acquire human’s abilities via human-to-robot skill transfer for subsequent autonomous task execution. In a factory environment, execution of such tasks, e.g., polishing, drilling, screwing, are frequently encountered and can be easily accomplished by human workers. Nevertheless, automating these tasks with robots require expert robotics engineering knowledge, robot-specific arrangements in the factory, and exact model of the environment. Through the integration of human-to-robot skill transfer techniques, these monotonous tasks can be autonomously handled by a mobile manipulator so that human workers can focus on more complicated tasks. To that end, a mobile manipulator - that can effectively learn impedance critical tasks by means of physical interactions with a human, and acquire human's abilities via human-to-robot skill transfer for subsequent autonomous task execution - will be developed and tested in a real factory with actual manufacturing tasks.