Expertise

Project Management
Entrepreneurship & Communications
User-Centered Design
Mentorship & STEM Training
Robotics & Mechatronics

Research Interests

Technology for Stroke Rehabilitation
Patient-Centred Design of In-Home Rehabilitation Robots
Analysis of Tactile and Proprioceptive Feedback in Stroke Survivors

Biography

Aaron Yurkewich is working with Dr. Alex Mihailidis to bring stroke rehabilitation devices to the home. Aaron and his group are developing a robot for upper arm stroke rehabilitation exercises through partnership with Quanser Inc. Stroke patients are using this robot to retrain their motor skills, and we use their recovery data to improve therapy and develop metrics to automatically assess improvement.

To extend the therapy provided by the upper arm system, a user-centred design process is being implemented to create wrist and hand exercise robot modules. These modules are being tested clinically as well and will give a personalized upper extremity solution to stroke rehab.

With these devices and the therapy plans developed stroke patients will recover faster and more completely so they can get back to work, become independent, and perform daily tasks.