The Grainger College of Engineering

Jump and University announce first engineering projects

1/16/2015

A robotic forearm designed to teach young physicians how to evaluate movement disorders, and a 3D computer-generated avatar that would deliver medical information to patients are the first projects awarded funding under a new partnership between doctors and engineers.

Written by

A robotic forearm designed to teach young physicians how to evaluate movement disorders, and a 3D computer-generated avatar that would deliver medical information to patients are the first projects awarded funding under a new partnership between doctors and engineers.

Each team will receive nearly $50,000 to develop their projects this year through Jump ARCHES, or Applied Research for Community Health through Engineering and Simulation. This joint venture between Jump Trading Simulation & Education Center at OSF and the Health Care Engineering Systems Center (HCESC) at College of Engineering at Illinois puts doctors and engineers together to solve problems in healthcare delivery through creation of new devices, processes and technologies.

The newly funded projects include:

Exploring the use of audio-visual emotive avatar in health care
A 3-D audio-visual avatar capable of showing appropriate emotions will be used online to help patients understand their specific medical information, such as test results and medical guidance. The team includes Dr. Ann Willemsen-Dunlap, Director of Interprofessional Education at Jump and a UICOMP faculty member, and Dr. Thomas Huang, a research professor in electrical and computer engineering at Illinois.

Development of a Robotic Forearm to Simulate Abnormal Muscle Tone Due to Brain Lesions
A robotic arm will help young physicians and students learn to differentiate and diagnose abnormal muscle tone behaviors, which can present in patients with brain lesions such as stroke, Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy, or multiple sclerosis. The team includes Dr. Elizabeth Hsiao-Wecksler and Dr. Randy Ewoldt, both from the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering at Illinois; Dr. Steven Tippett, Chair of Physical Therapy at Bradley University and a UICOMP faculty member; and Dr. Martin Morris, a mechanical engineering professor at Bradley.

“Partnering clinicians with engineers already has opened so many new doors to what’s possible,” said Dr. John Vozenilek, Medical Director at Jump.

“The goal of Jump ARCHES is to improve healthcare through simulation and engineering,” added HCESC Director Dr. Thenkurussi Kesavadas.. 

Announced in spring 2014, Jump ARCHES brings together clinicians and multi-disciplinary engineering faculty to innovate technologies such as sensor, imaging, visualization, simulation, data science, materials, control, and all technologies relevant to the advancement of clinical simulation, medical training and patient care. Jump ARCHES is the result of a $25-million dollar challenge gift from Jump Trading, a financial technology firm, that is being matched by the OSF Healthcare Foundation to create an $50-million endowment fund. The University of Illinois provides annual support of the Center’s operations.

____________________

nnounced last spring, Jump ARCHES brings together clinicians and multi-disciplinary engineering faculty to innovate technologies such as sensor, imaging, visualization, simulation, data science, materials, control, and all technologies relevant to the advancement of clinical simulation, medical training and patient care. Jump ARCHES is the result of a $25-million dollar challenge gift from Jump Trading, a financial technology firm, that is being matched by the OSF Healthcare Foundation to create an $50-million endowment fund. The University of Illinois provides annual support of the Center’s operations. - See more at: http://engineering.illinois.edu/news/article/8720#sthash.I3drncl2.dpuf

Share this story

This story was published January 16, 2015.