ME-655 (BME-656): Wearable Robotics and Sensors Fall 2024C/C++

Java Python ME-655 (BME-656): Wearable Robotics and Sensors

Mechanical Engineering Department

Schaefer School of Engineering & Science

Fall 2024

Prerequisite: ME-598 - Introduction to Robotics

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The goal of this course is to provide students with an understanding of advanced methods used in the design and control of wearable robots and in the analysis of human motion through wearable sensors. Lectures will be organized as asynchronous seminars that span various relevant topics. Students will put the material to practice in  a simulation-based project assignment and pass/fail homework assignments. They will also perform. literature research that will be presented in live and report formats.

The objectives of this course can be summarized as follows:

•   Students will develop a good understanding of fundamental design and control methods in wearable robotics by studying seminal works on these topics

•   Students will gain an understanding of state-of-the-art assistive and rehabilitation controllers for wearable robots. They will learn how to select a suitable controller for a given application, and how to use dynamic simulation tools to design, implement, and numerically validate such controllers

•   Students will learn signal processing and computational methods to automatically infer and quantify human motion using data from wearable sensors, and will apply these techniques to real-life data

•   The course will also strengthen students’ programming skills, which are critical  for engineers and researchers in robotics.

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:

•    Identify kinematic and kinetic variables to quantitatively describe patterns of human locomotion

•   Systematically derive the conditions of kinematic compatibility between the human body and a wearable mechanism

•   Compare state-of-the-art actuator technology suitable for safe  physical  human-robot interaction (pHRI)

•    Derive conditions of coupled stability for impedance controllers

•    Identify the most appropriate assistive or rehabilitation controller (e.g., finite-state machines, trajectory-based, hybrid, oscillator-based, fuzzy-logic-based, myoelectric and learning-based) for a given application and implement/test the controller in simulation.

•    Discuss state-of-the-art wearable sensing technology and related methods for human motion analysis and activity recognition

•   Apply supervised learning techniques to real-life data collected with wearable sensors, to infer and quantify the wearer’s motion.

COURSE FORMAT AND STRUCTURE

This course is fully online with weekly asynchronous lectures.  To access the course, please visit stevens.edu/canvas. For  more  information  about  course  access  or  support,  contact Stevens Support by emailing them at support@stevens.eduor by calling 201-380-6599.

Course Logistics

•    You are encouraged to "mentally enroll" in this course as if it occurred on Thursdays. The instructor  will  post  materials  for  the   upcoming  week   by  Thursday   6:30  pm,  and

assignments are due by 11:59 pm ET on Sunday of the following week (10 days after they are posted), unless otherwise noted in the course schedule.

•     Course assignments must be submitted on or before the specified due date. Due dates and delivery time deadlines are in Eastern Time (as used in Hoboken, NJ). Please note that students living in distant time zones or overseas must comply with this course time and  due  date  deadline  policy. Submissions  received  after  the deadline will  not  be accepted and will result in 100% of the total available points deducted. Under special (and well-motivated) circumstances, the instructor can agree to extend a specific deadline. In these cases, the extension will be granted to all students.

•     For clarity, an assignment file should be appended by your Stevens username, such as HW01_kim53.zip. This makes it easier for the course instructor and TA to manage assignment files.

•    The course consists of asynchronous virtual sessions  held  by the instructor or by the guest lecturer, as well as virtual lab experiences  ME-655 (BME-656): Wearable Robotics and Sensors Fall 2024C/C++ held by one of the course TAs. Lecture recordings are split into chapters that typically do not exceed 20 minutes of contents.

Instructor’s Online Hours

The course instructor and the TAs will be available via email and will respond within 24-48 hours. When emailing, please place in the subject line the course number/section and the topic of the email (e.g., ME-655 – Course Project Question). This will help me tremendously in locating your emails quicker when I scan the hundreds of emails that seem to make it into my box each day.

Messages without the course number in the subject line maybe ignored.

Virtual Office Hours

Virtual Office Hours are a synchronous session (through Zoom) to discuss questions related to  course assignments. Office hours will be held Tuesday from 5:00-7:00pm ET. Students who intend to participate are invited to send an email to the instructor at least one hour before the session. To connect to the weekly session, please click on the following Zoom link:

https://stevens.zoom.us/j/99908502016

Students who prefer to have in-person meetings are welcome to do so by visiting the instructor’s office (EAS-320). Note, however, that meetings will be granted on a first-come-first-served basis, regardless of how you plan to attend the meeting.

Lecture Discussion Board

If you have questions about course materials or are struggling and need assistance, the most efficient way to reach out to the course  instructor and TAs  is to write your questions and comments in the discussion board at the bottom of each lecture page.

For greater clarity, there are two threads in each lecture page, one to discuss lecture content questions, one to discuss homework questions. Before posting your question, please read the existing threads in their entirety to ensure the question has not been already answered. Please state your question clearly and in a succinct manner since others might have a similar question. Feel to contribute to an existing thread (e.g., you have a related question, or require additional clarifications). We are here to help, so follow-up questions are encouraged. We will do our best to check the discussion page(s) related to the next due assignments at least once per day.

Microsoft Teams Channel

We have created a Microsoft Teams Channel that can be used for peer collaboration (where appropriate) and peer communication throughout this course. Please use this resource to lean on each other, ask questions, seek clarification, and generally reach out to your fellow students for help. This channel is also a great way to connect with other students that you may not have gotten to know otherwise. Please do not use this channel to communicate something urgent or private in nature.

The Teams channel is intended for all of you to communicate with and lean on each other. While the course instructor and the TAs may check in from time to time, please do not use this channel to communicate directly with us, as we might not be able to reply in a timely manner. As discussed above, the most efficient way to contact us is via the discussion pages, the weekly office hours, or email.

Online Etiquette Guidelines

Your instructor and fellow students wish to foster a safe online learning environment. No matter how different or controversial they may be perceived, all opinions and experiences must be respected in the tolerant spirit of academic discourse. You are  encouraged to comment, question, or critique an idea, but you cannot attack an individual. Please keep this in mind, especially when asked to provide peer evaluations on your fellow students’ work