NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute for FY 2012 in Japan

Brown Ellenor J, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds Ellenor J Brown of the Georgia Institute of Technology to conduct a research project, entitled "Muscle Training Effects from Physical Interaction with a Wearable Robotic System," during the summer of 2012 at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST) in Nara, Japan. The host scientist is Dr. Tsukasa Ogasawara. The Intellectual Merit of the research project is to gain a better understanding of muscle coordination in healthy adults, information that may be useful for understanding and rehabilitating muscle coordination disorders and for target muscle training for fitness and conditioning. Muscle coordination is being monitored using an exoskeleton robot worn by the subjects. The long-term goal of the project is to develop ways to predict and alter muscle coordination for a given movement task. Broader Impacts of an EAPSI fellowship include providing the Fellow a first-hand research experience outside the U.S.; an introduction to the science, science policy, and scientific infrastructure of the respective location; and an orientation to the society, culture and language. These activities meet the NSF goal to educate for international collaborations early in the career of its scientists, engineers, and educators, thus ensuring a globally aware U.S. scientific workforce.