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HUMAN AND MACHINE LEARNING FOR CUSTOMIZED CONTROL OF ASSISTIVE ROBOTS
PROJECT SUMMARY This application will result in a technological platform that re-empowers persons with severe paralysis, by allowing them to independently control a wide spectrum of robotic actions. Severe paralysis is devastating, and chronic—and reliance on caregivers is persistent. Assistive machines such as wheelchairs and robotic arms offer a groundbreaking path to independence: where control over their environment and interactions is returned to the person. However, to operate complex machines like robotic arms and hands typically poses a dif?cult learning challenge and requires complex control signals—and the commercial control interfaces accessible to persons with severe paralysis (e.g. sip-and-puff, switch-based head arrays) are not adequate. As a result, assistive robotic arms remain largely inaccessible to those with severe paralysis—arguably the population who would bene?t from them most.