{"id":12946,"date":"2025-10-02T09:10:36","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T14:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=12946"},"modified":"2025-10-02T09:10:36","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T14:10:36","slug":"uwm-professor-builds-robots-to-help-people-stay-independent","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/uwm-professor-builds-robots-to-help-people-stay-independent\/","title":{"rendered":"UWM professor builds robots to help people stay independent"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo:<\/a>
Habib Rahman (left), director of UWM’s Biorobotics Lab, and PhD student Md Mahafuzur Rahaman Khan demonstrate their lab’s assistive robotic arm that could be mounted to wheelchairs to help stroke and spinal cord injury patients perform everyday tasks. (UWM Photo\/Troye Fox)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For someone who\u2019s had a stroke or a spinal cord injury, even simple tasks like drinking a glass of water or picking up the remote can be difficult. These individuals might struggle with limited functionality in their arms and hands, often a result of nerve damage that prevents their muscles from properly receiving electrical signals from their brain.<\/p>\n

Habib Rahman has seen these struggles firsthand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had family members suffer from a stroke,\u201d said Rahman, the Richard and Joanne Grigg Professor and mechanical engineering chair at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. \u201cEven in my lab, I have a PhD student who suffered a catastrophic stroke. It can come at different ages.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the director of UWM\u2019s\u00a0Biorobotics Lab<\/a>, Rahman is working to empower those patients. His research focuses on building advanced robots \u2014 from a wearable exoskeleton to a wheelchair-mounted assistive arm \u2014 to help people with disabilities enhance their quality of life and maintain their independence.<\/p>\n

Journey into robotics<\/h3>\n

Rahman has loved robots since childhood. He nurtured that fascination while earning his bachelor\u2019s degree in mechanical engineering in Bangladesh. After graduating in 2001, he pursued his master\u2019s degree at Saga University in Japan, energized by the pioneering advancements in exoskeleton robotics being made there.<\/p>\n

While studying in Japan, Rahman was impressed by the work being done to help the country\u2019s large elderly population remain in their homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Japan, they\u2019re working on exoskeleton robots to help people be more independent,\u201d he said. \u201cI thought that we can take this same concept and apply it to rehabilitation\u201d for those who have had a stroke.<\/p>\n

After earning his mechanical engineering PhD at Universit\u00e9 du Qu\u00e9bec in Montreal, Rahman joined UWM as a faculty member in 2015. He\u2019s since leveraged his expertise in assistive and rehabilitation robotics to develop an array of new robotic systems for people with mobility challenges.<\/p>\n

One such solution is a customizable exoskeleton that covers a user\u2019s entire arm, from shoulder to wrist, to be used in physical therapy. Whirring to life with sensors and motors \u2014 and informed by artificial intelligence \u2014 the exoskeleton can tell how much motion an individual is capable of, allowing it to provide just the right amount of assistance in stimulating muscles to perform an exercise.<\/p>\n

The future of assistive tech and rehabilitation<\/h3>\n

Rahman is working on other devices that could help make physical therapy more accessible. His lab has been developing the iTbot,\u00a0a portable, assistive robotic arm<\/a>\u00a0that provides physical therapy to stroke patients in the comfort and convenience of their homes.<\/p>\n

Other robot systems are meant to make daily life more manageable for people with disabilities. In 2021, Rahman and his lab members created a robotic arm that could be mounted to power wheelchairs to assist stroke and spinal cord injury patients. The device allows users to perform tasks like feeding themselves and picking up objects \u2014 even delicate items like credit cards and coffee mugs.<\/p>\n

In 2023, the team received a\u00a0$1 million grant<\/a>\u00a0from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research to adapt the arm for additional types of users, including people with cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and the elderly. During the five-year grant window, Rahman and his team are partnering with the ALS Association and the Medical College of Wisconsin to find users to test the arm.<\/p>\n

In all these efforts, Rahman and his colleagues are working to ensure that the robots are portable, affordable and covered by insurance \u2014 helping people with disabilities achieve greater success in physical therapy and accomplishing everyday tasks.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody has a right to get the highest standard of living,\u201d Rahman said. \u201cIf I work hard, I want to (be able to) go and get a glass of water. Everybody deserves that right to be independent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if they are satisfied for a few minutes,\u201d he added, \u201ceven for a single task, I\u2019ll be happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Written by Alex Orlando<\/p>\n

Link to original story: https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-professor-builds-robots-to-help-people-stay-independent\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For someone who\u2019s had a stroke or a spinal cord injury, even simple tasks like drinking a glass of water or picking up the remote can be difficult. These individuals might struggle with limited functionality in their arms and hands, often a result of nerve damage that prevents their muscles from properly receiving electrical signals […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":12948,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[107],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-12946","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-milwaukee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/12946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=12946"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=12946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}