A large group of us (including our favorite lab screwdriver) flew to Fredericton, New Brunswick last week to attend the Myoelectric Controls Symposium (MEC) hosted by the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of New Brunswick.

We spent most of the week in the conference center presenting numerous workshops, talks, and posters, but we still found an afternoon to go kayaking on the beautiful Saint John river. We also especially enjoyed the world renowned lobster dinner and checking out the Beaverbrook Art Gallery.

Here is a list of all of our papers that were accepted at the conference in case you want to check them out:

• M. Dumba et al. “A Virtual Reality Training Environment For Myoelectric Prosthesis Grasp Control With Sensory Feedback“
• L. Petrich et al. “A preliminary investigation into bio-inspired data collection for transhumeral targeted muscle reinnervation prosthetic control“
• S. Soliman et al. “Effects of Augmented Reality Training on Pattern Recognition Control in Myoelectric Prostheses Users: A Case Study“
• H. E. Williams et al. “Evidence that a deep learning regression-based controller mitigates the limb position effect for an individual with transradial amputation” (1st place student presentation award!)

Last week, the BLINC lab went to Victoria Park to engage in our famous annual ice skating extravaganza. Rory and Josh juggled while skating which wowed everyone at the rink! This was also Anna Rita’s first time skating which was very exciting. Evidently, IceWay Conditions were “Good” just like everyone’s time there.

In collaboration with Amii, we recently participated in the Juno Awards (Canada’s Music Awards) that took place on March 11th. We had several of our robots on display at a booth and Dr. Patrick Pilarski used one of our wearable robotic systems on stage to help deliver the rock album of the year (as seen the video below). It was a very fun event and we are excited to use our robots for more musical endeavors in the future.

BLINC members Cierra Stiegelmar (M.Sc. Student) and Mayank Rehani (Research Associate, Ph.D Student) did a phenomenal job representing the BLINC lab at this year’s 3MT competition!

Both presented on some of the exciting research projects they’re working on at BLINC, and were featured by the Faculty of Medicine.

Take a look at their presentations “I, Robotic Hand: How to Control a Prosthesis,” and “One Step at a Time: Living with a Prosthetic Leg Attached to the Bone” below:

We are presenting a poster and demo at the Cybathlon Symposium this Thurs Sept 17th and Fri Sept 18th respectively. The symposium has transitioned to a virtual format, so much of the symposium content will be available online in case you are not able to awaken in time for the 5am start time each day. You can find our twitter poster here and the rest of the posters can be found @cybathlon.

The organizers have also announced a new online format for the Cybathlon 2020 competition which will be happening on Nov 13th and 14th. Instead of everyone meeting in Zurich, competitors will compete locally and submit their footage to the organizers who will put together a livestream with competition footage, stories, and interviews. You should definitely check it out!

On November 9th, Alicia MacDonald presented her work on optimization of an upper-limb prosthesis assessment tool called the Instrumented Cup at the WE19 conference in Anaheim, California. She competed in the Undergraduate Rapid Fire Competition and placed 2nd! She had a great time meeting fellow engineering students and representatives from biomedical device companies.

Congrats Alicia!

Read more here.

BLINC in Germany, Japan, and the USA!

We had a very exciting summer this year. Ben Hallworth in Germany’s DLR, Heather Williams in Japan’s Osaka University, and Cierra Stiegelmar in the USA’s Rhodes College. They had a lot of research work done and a ton of fun!

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Earlier this October we organized the 1st Annual Bionic Limbs for Improved Natural Control Lab Graduational Pro-Am Fun Run Race For The Cure! The main goal of the event was to help chase Aïda (a former member of the UofA Panda’s track team and PhD candidate in the BLINC lab) over the finish line of her graduate studies. Rory Dawson and McNiel Keri (recently graduated MSc Student) had previously challenged her to the race, but since McNiel had already moved away to Calgary to start med school he was only able to symbolically run the race by being attached to Rory’s bluetooth speaker. Several other lab members joined in to walk the first lap of the race and cheer on the runners.

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