Research Interest

Human-Computer Interaction
Computer Vision and Deep Learning
Neural Engineering
Wearable Robotics
Human-Robot Interaction

Biography

Dr. Brokoslaw Laschowski is a research scientist and principal investigator with the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics in Rehabilitation Team at the KITE Research Institute, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, and an assistant professor (status) in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto. He also serves as an affiliate faculty member in the Robotics Institute and the Temerty Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research and Education in Medicine. He specializes in integrating humans with machines, with an emphasis on optimization and control of human-robot locomotion. Applications of his research range from bionic legs for persons with mobility impairments (i.e., including autonomous control using deep learning and neural control using brain-machine interfaces) to bionic vision for persons with visual impairments. Overall, he develops robotic and computer technologies that interface with humans in order to improve health and performance.

Dr. Laschowski completed his postdoctoral fellowship in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Prior to that, he received his PhD from the Department of Systems Design Engineering, with a specialization in biomedical engineering, at the University of Waterloo and the Waterloo Artificial Intelligence Institute. His PhD research focused on 1) physics-based computer simulation of human-robot interaction with energy-efficient actuators, and 2) visual perception of human-robot walking environments for autonomous control and planning using efficient neural networks. He received his masters from the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering also at the University of Waterloo, where he studied computational neuroscience and developed predictive simulations of human motor control using mathematical optimization, specifically optimal control theory.

Dr. Laschowski has published in many leading scientific journals, including the Frontiers in Neurorobotics, the IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics, and the Frontiers in Robotics and AI. He previously worked at the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital and co-founded and managed the summer research program in computer science at the University of Toronto for displaced students from Ukraine. To date, he has earned over $245,000 in scholarships and awards (e.g., from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada) and co-authored grant proposals that received over $197,000 in research funding (e.g., from the Canada Foundation for Innovation). He has presented at many national and international conferences and was a Best Paper Award finalist at the IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics. His research has been featured on media networks like BBC World News, CBC radio, Forbes, and Maclean’s magazine, including a demo to the President of South Korea.