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Dr. Hargrove's research was recently featured in an article published in Newsweek by Dr. Mark Geil.
Geil is a Professor of Kinesiology and Health at Georgia State University, where he also leads the Center for Pediatric Locomotion Sciences. Much of his research focuses on improving the lives of children with limb loss. In his column, Geil notes the importance of prosthetics and orthotics research funded by the military, and its broader application for the millions of individuals in the U.S. with limb loss and other disorders that affect mobility.
Geil writes:
"Consider also a CDMRP-funded project at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and Vanderbilt University. The lower-limb prostheses used are not just passive spring-like materials: They’re active, motorized joints. Motors require careful control, and the project headed by neuroengineering specialist Levi Hargrove has attempted to learn from the amputee’s muscles when she wants to transition from walking to, say, walking up stairs or down a ramp. Just like your phone’s voice recognition better understands your voice over time, Hargrove’s control algorithm allows the motorized prosthesis to make fewer errors in ambulation.
Clearly, projects like Hargrove’s stand to benefit much broader populations than just soldiers and veterans."
Read Geil's column in full here.