People


Faculty

Michelle Johnson

Michelle Johnson

Associate Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation; Secondary Faculty, BE

My research is mainly in the area of robot-mediated rehabilitation. I am focused on the investigation and rehabilitation of dysfunction due to aging, neural disease, and neural injury. I am particularly interested in 1) exploring the relationships between brain plasticity and behavioral/motor control changes after robot-assisted interventions; 2)quantifying motor impairment and motor control of the upper limb in real world tasks such as drinking; and 3) defining the methods to maintain therapeutic effectiveness while administering local and remote, robot-mediated interventions.

I direct the Rehabilitation Robotics Lab. This is a new Lab within the Department of Physical, Medicine, and Rehabilitation in the Perelman School of Medicine. The Rehabilitation Robotics Lab mission is to use robotics,rehabilitation,and neuroscience techniques to translate research findings into the development of assistive and therapeutic rehabilitation robots capable of functioning in real-world rehabilitation environments. Our goal is to improve the quality of life and function on activities of daily living (ADLs) of our target population in supervised or under-supervised settings.

Research Areas

  • Robot-assisted Therapy
  • Social/Humanoid Robots for Rehabilitation
  • Tele-rehabilitation
  • Rehabilitation Robots

Research Groups

Publications

Can an Optimal Control Model Capture Tracking Kinematics? Insights from Healthy and Post-Stroke Robot Interactions

Publisher International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC)

Robotic Assessment of Cognitive and Motor Impairment in Adults with Sickle Cell Disease

Publisher International Conference On Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR)

Towards an Optimal Model of Post-Stroke Sensorimotor Control

Publisher International Conference On Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR)

Developing a Methodology for Quantifying Infant Interaction with a Robotic Toy

Publisher International Conference On Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR)

TheraDyad: Feasibility of an Affordable Robot for Multi-User Stroke Rehabilitation

Publisher IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference for Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob)

Insights on telecommunication use by rehabilitation therapists before, during, and beyond COVID-19

Publisher Archives of Rehabilitation Research and Clinical Translation

Perceived Usefulness of a Social Robot Augmented Telehealth Platform by Therapists in the United States

Publisher IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)

Deployment of a Socially Assistive Robot for Assessment of COVID-19 Symptoms and Exposure at an Elder Care Setting

Publisher 30th IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)

Analysis of Human Behavior for Robot Design and Control

Publisher Applied Bionics and Biomechanics

On New Research Guidelines for the Deployment of Socially Assistive Robots for Elder Care Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

Publisher RoboHEC workshop at IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)

Ailu: An Affordable Sensorized Toy for Detection of Neuro and Motor Delays in Infants

Publisher IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR)

Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation

Publisher Biomechatronics

Preliminary Hardware and System Design Investigation for an Affordable and Mobile Assistive Robot for Elderly Care

Publisher IEEE ICRA Workshop: Mobile Robot Assistants for the Elderly (MoRobAE)

Robot-Based Measures of Upper Limb Cognitive-Motor Interference Across the HIV-Stroke Spectrum

Publisher IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR)

Towards Data-Driven Autonomous Robot-Assisted Physical Rehabilitation Therapy

Publisher IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR)

Developing Robot-Based Cognitive and Motor Tasks for People Living with Both HIV and Stroke

Publisher IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (Biorob)

Towards Robot-Based Cognitive and Motor Assessment Across the HIV-Stroke Spectrum

Publisher Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC)

Affordable stroke therapy in high-, low-and middle-income countries: From Theradrive to Rehab CARES, a compact robot gym

Publisher Journal of Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies Engineering (RATE)

Evaluating older adults’ interaction with a mobile assistive robot

Publisher IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)

High-force haptic rehabilitation robot and motor outcomes in chronic stroke

Publisher International Journal of Clinical Case Studies (IJCCS)

Quantifying infant physical interactions using sensorized toys in a natural play environment

Publisher IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR)

Stereo 3D tracking of infants in natural play conditions

Publisher IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR)

Using upper limb kinematics to assess cognitive deficits in people living with both HIV and stroke

Publisher IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR)

Upper limb kinematics of adults with cerebral palsy on bilateral functional tasks

Publisher Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC)

A computer model of the human arm: Predictive biomechanics for the theradrive rehabilitation system

Publisher IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR)

High-force Haptic Rehabilitation Robot and Motor Outcomes in Chronic Stroke: A Case Study

Publisher Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Ph.D. Students

Reem Azar

PhD, BE


Shafagh Keyvanian

PhD, MEAM


Anh Tuan Nguyen

PhD, BE


Francis Sowande

Robotics Master's '24; PhD, MEAM


Erica Waters

PhD, MEAM


Patience Yeboah

PhD, BE


Alumni

Kevin Bui

PhD, BE '21 - Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer, Selera Medical


Michael Sobrepera

Robotics MSE '19, PhD, MEAM '22 - Head of Forward Deployed Engineering, Director, Foxglove


Michelle Johnson

Research Areas

  • Robot-assisted Therapy
  • Social/Humanoid Robots for Rehabilitation
  • Tele-rehabilitation
  • Rehabilitation Robots