Funding

Who supports this work

Our research is supported principally by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), with additional support from private foundations. Award numbers below link to the public award records.

Active

Active projects

R01: Enhancing Voluntary Motion in Broad Patient Populations with Modular Powered Orthoses

2R01EB031166, R. Gregg (PI)
National Institutes of Health: National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
07/01/26 - 03/31/30, $2,353,545 total costs

The major goal of this project is to establish a modular, partial-assist exoskeleton technology as a novel intervention for knee osteoarthritis.

Hardware and Control Co-Design of Compliant Actuators for Energy-Efficient Humanoid Robots

Foundational Robotics Research (CMMI-2427036), Y. Ding (UM PI) and R. Gregg (UM Co-PI)
National Science Foundation: Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI)
01/01/2025 - 12/31/2028, $1,215,305 total costs

The overall goal of this project is to enhance the actuation efficiency and operational duration of legged robots including humanoids, prostheses, and exoskeletons through a systematic hardware and control co-design framework.

R01: Controlling Locomotion over Continuously Varying Activities for Agile Powered Prosthetic Legs

R01HD094772, R. Gregg (PI)
National Institutes of Health: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development
12/01/2023 - 11/30/2028, $3,067,774 total costs

The overall goal of this project is to model human joint biomechanics over continuously-varying locomotion to enable adaptive control of powered above-knee prostheses.

Completed

Completed projects

R01: Enhancing Voluntary Motion in Broad Patient Populations with Modular Powered Orthoses

R01EB031166, R. Gregg (PI)
National Institutes of Health: National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
09/22/2021 - 06/30/2026, $1,767,419 total costs

The major goal of this project is to establish a modular, partial-assist exoskeleton technology with innovations in backdrivable actuation and control.

NRI: INT: Collaborative Research: An Open-Source Framework for Continuous Torque Control of Intuitive Robotic Prosthetic Legs

National Robotics Initiative 2.0 (CMMI-2024237), R. Gregg (UM PI), E. Rouse (UM Co-PI), and E. Rombokas (UW/Lead PI)
National Science Foundation: Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI)
10/01/20 - 09/30/25, $1,500,000 ($940,000 UM share)

This project will establish an open source set of software control algorithms that will allow an open source robotic prosthetic leg to facilitate rhythmic and non-rhythmic interactions between the human user and the environment.
Project Webpage

R01: Controlling Locomotion over Continuously Varying Activities for Agile Powered Prosthetic Legs

R01HD094772, R. Gregg (PI)
National Institutes of Health: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development
09/01/2018 - 11/30/2023, $2,227,090 total costs

The major goal of this project is to model and control human locomotion over continuously varying tasks for the design of agile, powered prostheses that require little to no tuning.

CAREER: Recovering and Enhancing Natural Locomotion in Changing Conditions with Powered Lower-Limb Prostheses and Orthoses

Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award (CMMI-1652514 → 1949869), R. Gregg (PI)
National Science Foundation: Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI)
09/01/2017 - 08/31/2023, $500,000 total costs

The objective of this project is to establish 1) a transformative paradigm for energetic control of powered prostheses and orthoses that can assist lower-limb amputees and stroke survivors across changing conditions, and 2) an integrated education program at the interface of STEM and disability that spans from K-12 students to prosthetics-orthotics students.

NRI: FND: COLLAB: Optimal Design of Robust Compliant Actuators for Ubiquitous Co-Robots

National Robotics Initiative 2.0 (CMMI-1830360 → 1953908), R. Gregg (UM/Lead PI), S. Rezazadeh (DU Co-PI), E. Rouse (UM PI)
National Science Foundation: Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI)
09/15/2018 - 08/31/2022, $750,000 total costs ($431,244 Gregg share)

The major goal of this project is to establish a robust convex optimization framework for the design of series elastic actuators that are energy-efficient and safe across a wide variety of situations.

NRI: FND: COLLAB: An Open-Source Robotic Leg Platform that Lowers the Barrier for Academic Research

National Robotics Initiative 2.0 (CMMI-1734600 → 1949346), R. Gregg (UM PI), E. Rouse (UM/Lead PI), and H. Geyer (CMU PI)
National Science Foundation: Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI)
10/01/2017 - 09/30/2022, $749,054 total costs ($193,000 Gregg share)

The objective of this project is to create a scalable research platform for robotic lower-limb prostheses that will accelerate progress in the field by lowering the barrier-to-entry with ubiquitous, open-source hardware and software modules.
Project Webpage

DCSD: Time-Invariant, Multi-Objective Extremum Seeking Control for Model-Free Auto-Tuning of Powered Prosthetic Legs

Dynamics, Control and Systems Diagnostics (CMMI-1728057), N. Gans (PI) and R. Gregg (Co-PI)
National Science Foundation: Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI)
09/01/2017 - 08/31/2021, $373,483 total costs

The objective of this project is to understand model-free, adaptive optimization methods with varying time-scales and competing objectives in order to enable real-time auto-tuning of powered prosthetic legs.

CASI: From Machine to Biomimetic Control in Robot-Assisted Walking

Career Award at the Scientific Interface, R. Gregg (PI)
Burroughs Wellcome Fund
07/01/2012 - 12/30/2020, $500,000 direct costs

This career transition award supports the PI's development of a research program for translating theoretical control principles from walking robots into clinically viable powered prosthetic legs for amputees.

DP2: Phase-Based Control of Locomotion for High-Performance Prostheses and Orthoses

NIH Director's New Innovator Award (DP2HD080349), R. Gregg (PI)
National Institutes of Health: Office of the Director and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development
09/30/2013 - 06/30/2018, $2,295,000 total costs

The objective of this project is to investigate the existence of phase-based control strategies in human locomotion for the purpose of designing high-performance control systems for lower-limb prostheses/orthoses.

NRI: Decentralized Feedback Control Design for Cooperative Robotic Walking with Application to Powered Prosthetic Legs

National Robotics Initiative (CMMI-1637704 → 1854898), K. Hamed (PI) and R. Gregg (Co-PI)
National Science Foundation: Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI)
09/01/2016 - 08/31/2020, $612,213 total costs ($245,730 UTD share)

The objective of this project is to investigate decentralized feedback control strategies for legged robots with cooperative subsystems, including powered prosthetic legs.

Gifts

We would also like to acknowledge gifts from The Philip R. Jonsson Foundation and The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.