The objective of this research is to develop a trustworthy and high-performance neural-machine interface (NMI) that accurately determines a user?s locomotion mode in real-time for neural-controlled artificial legs. The proposed approach is to design the NMI by integrating a new pattern recognition strategy with a high-performance computing embedded system. This project tackles the challenges of accurate interpretation of information from the neuromuscular system, a physical system, using appropriate computation in a cyber system to process the information in real-time. The neural-machine interface consists of multiple sensors that reliably monitor the neural and mechanical information and a set of new algorithms that can fuse and coordinate the highly dynamic information for accurate identification of user intent. The algorithm is to be implemented on a high-performance graphic processing unit (GPU) to meet real-time requirements. This project has the potential to enable the design of neural-controlled artificial legs and may initiate a new direction for research in and the design of prosthetic leg systems. Innovations in this domain have the potential to improve the quality of life of leg amputees, including soldiers with limb amputations. The proposed approaches seek to permit cyber systems to cope with physical uncertainty and dynamics, a common challenge in cyber-physical systems, and to pave a way for applying high-performance computing in biomedical engineering. Besides providing comprehensive training to undergraduate and graduate students, the investigators plan to introduce community college students to cyber-physical systems concepts in an interactive and engaging manner.

The objective of this research is to develop a cyber-physical system composed of accelerometers and novel machine learning algorithms to analyze data in the context of a set of driving health care applications. The approach is to develop novel machine learning algorithms for temporal segmentation, classification, and detection of subtle elements of human motion. These techniques will allow quantification of human motion and improved full-time monitoring and assessment of medical conditions using a lightweight wearable system. The scientific contribution of this research is in advancing machine learning and human sensing in support of improved medical diagnoses and treatment monitoring by (i) modeling human activity and symptoms through sensor data analysis, (ii) integrating and fusing information from several accelerometers to monitor in real-time, (iii) validating the efficacy of the automated detection through assessments applying the state of the art in diagnostic evaluation, (iv) developing novel machine learning methods for temporal segmentation, classification, and discovery of multiple temporal patterns that discriminate between temporal signals, and (v) providing quality measures to characterize subtle human motion. These algorithms will advance machine learning in the area of unsupervised and semisupervised learning. The driving applications for this research are job coaching for people with cognitive disabilities, tele-rehabilitation for knee osteo-arthritis, assessing variability in balance and gait as an indicator of health of older adults, and measures for assessing Parkinson's patients. This research is highly interdisciplinary and will train graduate students for careers in developing technological innovations in health and monitoring systems.