Daniel Ferris
Professor | University of Florida
Gainesville, FL, UNITED STATES
Daniel Ferris studies how humans move, focusing on both neuroscience and biomechanics, including individuals in health and disability.
Biography
Daniel Ferris is the Robert W. Adenbaum Professor of Engineering Innovation. His research focuses on the biomechanics and neural control of human locomotion, specifically in regard to human-machine interactions (mechanical and electrical). Daniel's specific projects include mobile brain imaging with high-density electroencephalograph, virtual reality motor training, bionic lower limb prostheses, and robotic lower limb exoskeletons.
Areas of Expertise (8)
Robotic Exoskeletons
Electroencephalography
Biomechanics of Human Movement
Neural Control
Human-machine Interfaces
Mobile Brain Imaging
EEG
Bionic Prostheses
Media Appearances (3)
Facing robot opponents puts table tennis players' brains on high-alert
Science online
2023-04-10
Wearing an electrode-studded cap, a table tennis player stares down an opponent. This is no flesh-and-blood adversary; the robotic metal barrel across the table fires a ball every few seconds. According to a study published today in eNeuro, the player’s brain reacts differently when going up against a human opponent or the cold, calculating skill of a machine.
Forward & Up
UF Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering tv
2023-03-30
The work that we're developing here at The Center for Coastal Solutions is really transferable not only across the state of Florida but across the nation and the world. We're building fundamental capabilities in how we model the watershed, the estuary, and the ocean. Dynamics and this optimization of solutions is also something that is transferable almost anywhere you go on the planet.
Surgical technique improves sensation, control of prosthetic legs
United Press International online
2018-05-31
Researchers at MIT Media Lab have invented the neural interface and communication system that sends movement commands from the central nervous system to a robotic prosthesis. In turn, the limb relays proprioceptive feedback describing movement of the joint back to the central nervous system. "This is groundbreaking," Daniel Ferris, a professor of Engineering Innovation at the University of Florida, who was not involved in the research, said in a press release.
Articles (3)
Electrocortical activity correlated with locomotor adaptation during split-belt treadmill walking
The Journal of PhysiologyNoelle A. Jacobsen and Daniel P. Ferris
2023-07-31
Locomotor adaptation is crucial for daily gait adjustments to changing environmental demands and obstacle avoidance. Mobile brain imaging with high-density electroencephalography (EEG) now permits quantification of electrocortical dynamics during human locomotion. To determine the brain areas involved in human locomotor adaptation, we recorded high-density EEG from healthy, young adults during split-belt treadmill walking.
Neuromechanical Adaptation to Walking With Electromechanical Ankle Exoskeletons Under Proportional Myoelectric Control
IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and BiologyRachel L. Hybart and Daniel P. Ferris
2023-06-26
Objective: To determine if robotic ankle exoskeleton users decrease triceps surae muscle activity when using proportional myoelectric control, we studied healthy young participants walking with commercially available electromechanical ankle exoskeletons (Dephy Exoboot) with a novel controller. The vast majority of robotic lower limb exoskeletons do not have direct neural input from the user which makes adaptation of exoskeleton dynamics based on user intent difficult.
A Human Lower Limb Mechanical Phantom for the Testing of Knee Exoskeletons
IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation EngineeringW. Sebastian Barrutia, et. al
2023-05-15
The development of assistive lower-limb exoskeletons can be time-consuming. Testing prototype medical devices on vulnerable populations such as children also has safety concerns. Mechanical phantoms replicating the lower-limb kinematics provide an alternative for the fast validation and iteration of exoskeletons. However, most phantoms treat the limbs as rigid bodies and fail to capture soft tissue deformation at the human/exoskeleton interface.
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