The University of South Florida's, Center for Assistive, Rehabilitation & Robotics Technologies (CARRT) will increase the capacity of engineers, researchers and practitioners in the assistive technology and human performance field by becoming a Site in the existing NSF IUCRC iPERFORM Center for Assistive Technologies to Enhance Human Performance. The iPerform Center currently includes the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) and at Dallas (UTD). CARRT combines research, education and service to improve human performance, including the capabilities of individuals with a disability or of advanced age. Innovations such as virtual reality for job training, intelligent wheelchairs and powered mobility devices, adaptive driving simulators, training systems for rehabilitation after a stroke, and a mobile app to help with decisions about a prosthesis will be explored with industrial partners. USF will also work with the Tampa VA, the Florida Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, the Museum of Science and Industry, Girls Scouts Minds for Design Camp and Florida-Georgia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation in order to promote science, engineering and entrepreneurship to a broad audience. Real world problems associated with assistive technologies and enhancing human performance will be integrated into courses such as Capstone Senior Design, Human Factors, Rehabilitation Engineering, Haptics and Bioastronautics motivating future scientists and engineers in the field. USF's student chapters such as the Biomedical Engineering Society will also help in the development and implementation of the research projects related to the goals of the iPERFORM Center.
The objective of this planning grant is to establish the University of South Florida (USF) as a Site addition to the existing iPERFORM Center. USF's CARRT has expertise in integrating research, education and service with a strong record of interdisciplinary and inter-institutional collaborative research that has led to the development of novel assistive, rehabilitation, wearable and robotics technologies. USF's team has expertise in the human testing of assistive technologies that is necessary to improve designs and make them commercially viable. USF has several motion capture systems including two that are implemented into virtual reality systems that allow for testing in realistic environments safely while providing controlled and repeatable testing protocols. This allows for quantitative data that can improve assistive technologies and prepare them for market necessary to attract industry partners. USF's capabilities are synergistic to the focus and goals of the existing NSF IUCRC iPERFORM Center that include attracting support towards the commercialization of assistive technologies and promoting innovation in academia that is driven by customer and industrial needs. Through USF CARRT's integrated holistic model in which engineers and scientists work with clinicians, rehabilitation practitioners and artists, a unique structure for research and development will strengthen the iPERFORM Center.
