This center is currently (2018) comprised of 7 projects applying robotics and virtual reality to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities. The largest of these is an NIH project (2017-2022, $3,571,000) using a unique combination of robotics and virtual reality for neurorehabilitation of people who have arm limitations resulting from a recent stroke.
Five smaller projects on wearable robots are supported by an NIDILRR Center grant (2015-2020, $4,625,000) and address lower extremity exoskeletons to restore walking by individuals with stroke, epidural electrical stimulation to increase spinal cord transmission and improve the use of exoskeletons by people with spinal cord injury, and the study of new robotic technology for stroke therapy to be used in the home.
Two development projects are designing new human-robot interfaces allowing users to control exoskeletons in a biologically natural way. An NSF grant is developing a new lower extremity exoskeleton for advanced research. The Kessler Foundation and Rutgers Department of Rehabilitation and Movement Science are major collaborators. As of September 2018, grants total $8,396,000.