Amy Wu

Assistant Professor

Amy Wu headshot

Mitchell Professor in Bio-inspired Robotics

 

McLaughlin Hall, Room 324

Kingston, ON K7L3N6

Canada

Phone: 613 533 6000 x 32760
Email: amy.wu@queensu.ca

Research Interests

  • Human biomechanics: control of balance and locomotion
  • Mechatronics
  • Legged robotics
  • Wearable robotics
  • Human-robot interaction

The Biomechanics x Robotics Laboratory (BxRL) is at the intersection of human biomechanics and robotics with the aim of building better assistive technologies. We are interested in utilizing a first-principles approach to understand the mechanics and energetics of human movement and to apply those principles to robots. Likewise, we will leverage robots to reveal the mechanisms behind human behavior. We are also passionate about using maker-style manufacturing techniques to build impactful, openly available robotic devices for both research and education. We are a member of Ingenuity Labs Research Institute.

Current Students

  • Aaron Best (PhD)
  • Timothy Byles-Ho (MSc)
  • Sudipta Das (UG)

Former Students

  • Paul Riek (MSc)
  • Sydney Garrah (Undergraduate, USRA, MECH 461)
  • Jess Black (UG, WiE Summer Researcher)
  • Jyotishka Duttagupta (Mitacs Globalink)
  • Xinran Liu (Mitacs Globalink)
  • Thomas Huckell (MSc)
  • Timothy Byles-Ho (Undergraduate, MECH 461, Summer)
  • Ray Smyth (Undergraduate, USRA)
  • Nathalie Vilchis (Mitacs Globalink)
  • Harriet Chorney (Undergraduate, USRA, MECH 461)
  • Zachary Toupin (Undergraduate, MECH 461)
  • Matthew Green (Undergraduate, Thesis)
  • Phoebe Tan Hui Ping (Undergraduate, SWEP)
  • Lucas Melanson (Undergraduate, SWEP)
  • Charley McCann (Undergraduate, Summer)
  • Madeleine Liblong (Undergraduate, Summer)
  • Frances Campbell (Undergraduate, MECH 461)
  • Paul Riek (Undergraduate, MECH 461)
  • Ted Ecclestone (Undergraduate, Thesis)
  • Emily Bugeja (Undergraduate, Summer)

Courses

Winter 2020/2021/2023: MECH 210 Electronic Circuits and Motors for Mechatronics

Select Publications

  • P. M. Riek, A. N. Best, A. R. Wu, "Validation of Inertial Sensors to Evaluate Gait Stability," Sensors, 23(3):1547, 2023. https://doi.org/10.3390/s23031547
  • T. Huckell and A. R. Wu, "Improved Zero Step Push Recovery with a Unified Reduced Order Model of Standing Balance," 2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Kyoto, Japan, 2022, pp. 8321-8327, doi: 10.1109/IROS47612.2022.9981193.
  • A. R. Wu, “Human biomechanics perspective on robotics for gait assistance: challenges and potential solutions,” Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 288, no. 1956, Aug. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1197
  • V. Ramachandran, F. Schilling, A. R. Wu, and D. Floreano, "Smart Textiles that Teach: Fabric-Based Haptic Device Improves the Rate of Motor Learning," Adv. Intell. Syst., p. 2100043, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1002/aisy.202100043
  • A. N. Best and A. R. Wu, "Upper body and ankle strategies compensate for reduced lateral stability at very slow walking speeds," Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 287, no. 1936, p. 20201685, Oct. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.1685
  • A. N. Best, J.-P. Martin, Q. Li, and A. R. Wu, "Stepping behaviour contributes little to balance control against continuous mediolateral trunk perturbations, " J Exp Biol vol. 222, no. 24, Dec. 2019.
  • A. R. Wu, C. S. Simpson, E. H. F. van Asseldonk, H. van der Kooij, and A. J. Ijspeert, “Mechanics of very slow human walking,” Sci Rep, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 1–10, Dec. 2019.
  • C. Rognon, V. Ramachandran, A. R. Wu, A. J. Ijspeert, and D. Floreano, "Haptic feedback perception and learning with cable-driven guidance in exosuit teleoperation of a simulated drone," IEEE Trans Haptics, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 375–385, Jul. 2019.
  • S. Faraji, A. R. Wu, and A. J. Ijspeert, "A simple model of mechanical effects to estimate metabolic cost of human walking," Scientific Reports, vol. 8, no. 1, p. 10998, Jul. 2018.
  • A. R. Wu et al., "An Adaptive Neuromuscular Controller for Assistive Lower-Limb Exoskeletons: A Preliminary Study on Subjects with Spinal Cord Injury," Front Neurorobot, vol. 11, Jun. 2017.

Outreach

Social Media

Follow BxRL on Twitter: @BxRL_IGL