Dr Ravi Vaidyanathan and student Fiona Boyce in the lab with the BBC team
Yesterday, the Biomechatronics Lab from the Department of Mechanical Engineering was featured in a live broadcast on the BBC News Facebook page.
Dr Ravi Vaidyanathan and his collaborators presented some of the lab’s projects and answered a few questions from viewers across the world.
One of the highlighted innovations is a robotic hand that can be controlled via muscle vibrations, the work of Dr Vaidyanathan and PhD student Sam Wilson.
Alex Lewis, who lost his limbs following a severe infection and is now collaborating with Imperial engineers to develop the technology, was also present in the lab to demonstrate the robotic prosthetic in action. As Alex explained, the new device is much easier to use, and offers quicker reactions compared to other prosthetic devices.
Later in the programme, undergraduate student Fiona Boyce guided BBC’s Chris Foxx through testing a system that allows the user to control video games through blinking.
The broadcast also featured a demonstration of the Corner app, a boxing performance tracker that has now turned into a commercial enterprise. The idea was born at Imperial as a Masters project for former student Charles Burr, who is now the CEO of Athletec, the company behind the Corner app.
The reactions from many viewers were enthusiastic, and Dr Ravi Vaidyanathan pointed out that the lab is looking to find more collaborators to test and help improve the prototypes.
You can watch the full broadcast on the BBC News Facebook page.
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Nadia Barbu
Department of Mechanical Engineering
