COLLEGE STATION, Tex. (KBTX) – Texas A&M is using science and technology to improve the use of prosthetics.
Researchers are using virtual reality as well as a new driving simulator inside the Emerging Technologies Building.
Texas A&M Assistant Professor Maryam Zahabi and her team are studying computer models and machine learning algorithms. The scientists are also using the simulators to study tasks most of us find as very simple. They hope to give more guidance to engineers designing new prosthetic devices.
“So the objective of this study is to understand the cognitive load, or mental workload when prosthetic users use different types of upper limb prosthetic device. So the issue is that most of these prosthetic devices are actually very hard to use and very challenging,” said Zahabi, Ph.D.
Their work on improving prosthetics is being funded by the National Science Foundation. Texas A&M is partnering with North Carolina State University and the University of Florida for the study.