Collaborative Research: HEBB: Human-Robot Enabled System to Induce Brain Behavior Adaptations

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The overall research objective of this collaborative project is to create an embodied, intelligent robotic system that can induce meaningful long-term change in human motor function by providing personalized, adaptive feedback and noninvasive neural stimulation designed to induce desirable neuromotor plasticity. The motor behavior targeted for enhancement is plantarflexor power during the push-off phase of gait; stroke survivors often produce diminished plantarflexor power and rely instead on an inappropriate hip flexion "pull-off" compensation, thereby limiting the quality of their gait and quality of life. Personalized learning methods will be employed to model and optimize behavioral responses to changes in performance feedback provided by an intelligent mobile robotic coach, which will guide gait training. The project will lay the foundation to determine whether training based solely on principles of motor learning suffice to induce meaningful increases in plantarflexor power that are retained over time, or whether simultaneous targeted changes in brain excitability are required. This project advances the NSF mission to promote the progress of science and advance the national health by developing an adaptive motor learning algorithm embedded within an interactive mobile robot to induce meaningful long-term changes in human motor function through human-robot interaction. Broader impacts of the project include efforts to enhance research reproducibility and rigor, and to broaden participation in STEM for women, minorities, and persons with disabilities. The overall objective of this research is to create an embodied, intelligent system that provides personalized, adaptive feedback to induce neuromotor plasticity, mediate motor adaptation, and promote meaningful, lasting increases in plantarflexor power, which is diminished during walking in many stroke survivors. Three sets of human subject experiments are researched. The first will identify critical parameters of performance feedback that facilitate the desired behavioral change. The second will use a novel learning paradigm to model and optimize behavioral responses to changes in performance feedback provided by an intelligent robotic coach. The third will use single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and paired associative stimulation (PAS) to harness neuroplastic effects in humans such that desired behavioral changes induced by optimized feedback training are made persistent through Hebbian learning mechanisms. The envisioned system will involve bi-directional learning between the human and machine intelligences to determine how to control important, but subject-specific, variables critical for maintaining and promoting motor function across the life and health span. Understanding these bi-directional relationships within the context of neurorehabilitation may provide insights that can further advance human-robot teaming in a range of application domains, including healthcare, manufacturing, and personal transportation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.