Wearable and Soft Robotics: Human-Centered Design

Mitja Trkov, PhD
Assistant Professor
Rowan University

Abstract: Recent developments in wearable and soft robotics have shown significant potential for these technologies to improve human quality of life and advancing safety in human-robot collaboration. These wearable robotic technologies that must meet functional and ergonomic requirements are commonly developed using a human-centered design approach. Similarly, many soft robotic technologies that use soft materials are developed using human- or bio-inspired designs. In this talk, I will discuss the applications of principles of human-centered design principles to wearable and soft robotic applications. In the first part of the talk, I will discuss the development of wearable assistive technologies for human fall prevention and the foundations for development of human-inspired controllers. The presented approach considers the biomechanics of underlying human intersegmental coordination during foot slip recovery combined with a simplified high-level modeling of human balance. In the second part of the talk, I will present our recent progress on a bio-inspired design of a human hand shape-like modular soft robot that can achieve versatile grasping capabilities. Furthermore, the modular nature of this robot, enabled by its innovative design of interunit connections, allows easy shape or morphology reconfiguration. These capabilities allow the robot to modulate stiffness or perform on-demand tasks, while maintaining safety due to its inherent softness.

Biography: Dr. Mitja Trkov is an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Rowan University, NJ. His research interests include human-machine interactions, soft robotics, wearable system, ergonomics, and biomechanics. His particular focus includes using human-centered assistive technologies for fall prevention and development of bio-inspired soft robotic system. Before joining Rowan, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, UT. Dr. Trkov obtained his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ in 2016. He received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia in 2007. Prior to his graduate studies, he worked as an R&D engineer in the naval industry. Dr. Trkov was a recipient of the Best Student Paper Award at the 2012 and 2015 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM) and the Best Paper Award at the 2022 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition (IMECE) from MEMS Division.