Episode 66: Peter Neuhaus talks about exoskeletons, robotics, and the development of exercise technologies for space and Earth
06/19/18 • -1 min
In today’s episode, Ken and Dawn interview their colleague Dr. Peter Neuhaus, a senior research scientist here at IHMC. Peter is an engineer well-known for his work on wearable robotic devices. In particular, Peter has focused on lower extremity exoskeleton devices and their applications for mobility assistance for paraplegics and other people with disabilities or partial paralysis.
In 2016, Peter lead an IHMC team that won a silver medal in the international Cybathlon, a competition conducted in Zurich in which people with disabilities used advanced assistive devices, including robotic technologies, to compete against each other.
In today’s interview, Peter talks about IHMC’s humanoid robotic efforts as well as his work with NASA designing an exercise machine for a human mission to Mars or other missions beyond low earth orbit.
Peter also describes the work he is doing with IHMC High-Performance Director Joe Gomes, the former Oakland Raiders strength and conditioning coach. Peter and Joe as well as others at IHMC are designing exercise technologies to extend the resilience of high-performing humans, such as astronauts and elite warfighters. Many of these technologies will eventually be able to be utilized by the general public.
Links:
Peter Neuhaus IHMC page:
https://www.ihmc.us/groups/pneuhaus/
DARPA Robotics Challenge videos:
Cybathlon videos:
http://robots.ihmc.us/cybathlon/
IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine article about Cybathlon:
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1702.08656.pdf
IHMC newsletter article about Cybathlon:
https://www.ihmc.us/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/IHMCNewslettervol10iss3.pdf
IHMC newsletter article about DARPA Robotics Challenge:
https://www.ihmc.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/IHMCnewslettervol13iss1.pdf
Show notes:
3:03: Dawn asks Peter about growing up in New York City.
3:33: Ken mentions that after high-school, Peter enrolled at MIT. Ken asks Peter what led him there.
4:04: Ken asks why Peter decided to major in mechanical engineering.
4:35: Dawn asks Peter what led him to travel across the country to attend the University of California, Berkeley for graduate school after he graduated from MIT.
5:10: Dawn asks what it was like for Peter to teach science to 5th– and 6th-graders as well as high-schoolers in Brooklyn after he received his master’s degree from Berkeley.
6:23: Peter talks about how after two years of teaching, he decided his window of opportunity to get a doctorate was shrinking and that it was essentially “now or never,” which led him back to Berkeley.
7:02: Dawn mentions that once Peter finished his doctorate, he went to work for a startup as a mechanical engineer. She asks what sort of work he did there.
7:47: Dawn talks about how a year and a half after getting his doctorate Peter met his future wife, who eventually led him to Pensacola, and in a roundabout way, to IHMC. She asks if he could share how that all came about.
9:22: Ken comments on how since joining IHMC in 2003, Peter has focused on wearable robotics systems and legged robots. Ken further mentions that Peter was one of the lead IHMC researchers participating in the DARPA Learning Locomotion project, where he helped develop quadrupedal locomotion algorithms for the Little Dog robot. Ken asks if Peter could talk about his work on this project?
11:08: Dawn, continuing with the discussion about DARPA projects, mentions that Peter played an important role in both the development of technology and in the management of IHMC’s humanoid robotics effort for the DARPA Robotics Challenge that was held between 2013 and 2015. IHMC placed second and brought home $1 million in prize money. Dawn asks what that experience was like.
12:10: Ken mentions there were three competitions that were part of the robotics challenge, and asks Peter to talk about IHMC’s performance in each of the competitions.
12:57: Dawn mentions that for more than a decade, Peter has been working on exoskeletons, wearable robotic devices that assist people with paralysis and other disabilities. She asks Peter how he got interested in this, and if he could give an overview of what is involved in the development of exoskeletons.
14:39: Ken comments on how wearables are a challenging application for roboti...
In today’s episode, Ken and Dawn interview their colleague Dr. Peter Neuhaus, a senior research scientist here at IHMC. Peter is an engineer well-known for his work on wearable robotic devices. In particular, Peter has focused on lower extremity exoskeleton devices and their applications for mobility assistance for paraplegics and other people with disabilities or partial paralysis.
In 2016, Peter lead an IHMC team that won a silver medal in the international Cybathlon, a competition conducted in Zurich in which people with disabilities used advanced assistive devices, including robotic technologies, to compete against each other.
In today’s interview, Peter talks about IHMC’s humanoid robotic efforts as well as his work with NASA designing an exercise machine for a human mission to Mars or other missions beyond low earth orbit.
Peter also describes the work he is doing with IHMC High-Performance Director Joe Gomes, the former Oakland Raiders strength and conditioning coach. Peter and Joe as well as others at IHMC are designing exercise technologies to extend the resilience of high-performing humans, such as astronauts and elite warfighters. Many of these technologies will eventually be able to be utilized by the general public.
Links:
Peter Neuhaus IHMC page:
https://www.ihmc.us/groups/pneuhaus/
DARPA Robotics Challenge videos:
Cybathlon videos:
http://robots.ihmc.us/cybathlon/
IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine article about Cybathlon:
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1702.08656.pdf
IHMC newsletter article about Cybathlon:
https://www.ihmc.us/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/IHMCNewslettervol10iss3.pdf
IHMC newsletter article about DARPA Robotics Challenge:
https://www.ihmc.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/IHMCnewslettervol13iss1.pdf
Show notes:
3:03: Dawn asks Peter about growing up in New York City.
3:33: Ken mentions that after high-school, Peter enrolled at MIT. Ken asks Peter what led him there.
4:04: Ken asks why Peter decided to major in mechanical engineering.
4:35: Dawn asks Peter what led him to travel across the country to attend the University of California, Berkeley for graduate school after he graduated from MIT.
5:10: Dawn asks what it was like for Peter to teach science to 5th– and 6th-graders as well as high-schoolers in Brooklyn after he received his master’s degree from Berkeley.
6:23: Peter talks about how after two years of teaching, he decided his window of opportunity to get a doctorate was shrinking and that it was essentially “now or never,” which led him back to Berkeley.
7:02: Dawn mentions that once Peter finished his doctorate, he went to work for a startup as a mechanical engineer. She asks what sort of work he did there.
7:47: Dawn talks about how a year and a half after getting his doctorate Peter met his future wife, who eventually led him to Pensacola, and in a roundabout way, to IHMC. She asks if he could share how that all came about.
9:22: Ken comments on how since joining IHMC in 2003, Peter has focused on wearable robotics systems and legged robots. Ken further mentions that Peter was one of the lead IHMC researchers participating in the DARPA Learning Locomotion project, where he helped develop quadrupedal locomotion algorithms for the Little Dog robot. Ken asks if Peter could talk about his work on this project?
11:08: Dawn, continuing with the discussion about DARPA projects, mentions that Peter played an important role in both the development of technology and in the management of IHMC’s humanoid robotics effort for the DARPA Robotics Challenge that was held between 2013 and 2015. IHMC placed second and brought home $1 million in prize money. Dawn asks what that experience was like.
12:10: Ken mentions there were three competitions that were part of the robotics challenge, and asks Peter to talk about IHMC’s performance in each of the competitions.
12:57: Dawn mentions that for more than a decade, Peter has been working on exoskeletons, wearable robotic devices that assist people with paralysis and other disabilities. She asks Peter how he got interested in this, and if he could give an overview of what is involved in the development of exoskeletons.
14:39: Ken comments on how wearables are a challenging application for roboti...
Previous Episode
Episode 65: Dr. Brendan Egan talks about the importance of muscle and his research into exogenous ketones
Dr. Brendan Egan is an Associate Professor of Sport and Exercise Physiology at Dublin City University who is well known for research that shows resistance training can improve strength, muscle mass, reduce falls in older people, and perhaps even extend lifespans.
In addition to being a first-class researcher, Brendan is also a stand-out player in Ireland’s national sport, Gaelic football.
His current research is exploring the synergy between nutrition and exercise interventions to optimize performance in athletes and the elderly.
Current projects also involve protein hydrolysates in recovery and glycemic management; leucine and n-3 PUFAs in the elderly; and exogenous ketones and athletic performance.
Links:
Brendan Egan’s faculty page:
https://dcu.academic.ie/live/!W_VALOCAL_DCU_PORTAL.PROFILE?WPBPRSN=1631629
Brendan Egan’s Researchgate profile
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Brendan_Egan2/contributions
Brendan Egan’s TEDx talk:
Exercise Metabolism and the Molecular Regulation of Skeletal Muscle Adaptation
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550413112005037
Metabolism of ketone bodies during exercise and training:
https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1113/JP273185
Fueling performance: Ketones Enter the Mix:
https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(16)30438-7
Does Strength-Promoting Exercise Confer Unique Health Benefits?
https://academic.oup.com/aje/article-abstract/187/5/1102/4582884?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Does Strength-Promoting Exercise Confer Unique Health Benefits?
https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1113/JP275938
Show notes:
2:46: Dawn opens by mentioning that Brendan was born in Detroit, and that his Irish father moved the family to Ireland when Brendan was 3 years old. Dawn asks if Brendan’s mother was American.
4:09: Dawn comments on how Brendan was very athletic as a child and played Gaelic football, which is Ireland’s national sport, and asks if he could explain how this game is played.
6:02: Ken, following up on the last question, asks what Brendan’s training is like for this sport, and how he manages to fit it into his busy schedule as a professor.
7:41: Dawn asks if it is true that even though Brendan’s best grades were in math and physics, he never considered a career in science while he was in high school.
8:37: Dawn mentions that Brendan ended up at the University of Limerick after graduating, asking what made him decide to attend Limerick as well as what prompted him to major in sports and exercise science.
9:46: Dawn asks about two people, Phil Jakeman and John Kirwan, who played a big role in shaping Brendan’s education at Limerick.
11:58: Dawn comments on how after completing his bachelor’s of science degree, Brendan went to work on his master’s, heading to the UK and attending Loughborough University where he graduated with distinction in sports exercise and nutrition. Dawn asks what made him decide to attend Loughborough, and what stood out about his time there.
13:33: Dawn mentions that Brendan returned to Ireland in 2004 to start his doctoral studies under the supervision of Dr. Donal J O’Gorman at Dublin City University. Dawn asks what that experience was like.
15:06: Ken asks what Brendan learned from his research with Dr. O’Gorman, which focused on skeletal muscle adaptation to exercise and, in particular, continuity between acute molecular responses to individual bouts of exercise and the adaptations in skeletal muscle induced by exercise training.
18:30: Dawn asks what took Brendan to Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
19:51: Brendan talks about his work at Karolinska using animal intravenous cell systems, and his research into transcriptional regulation of skeletal muscle insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes utilizing small non-coding RNA’s.
23:39: Ken mentions that Brendan’s first faculty position was at the University College Dublin in 2011, where he spent fiv...
Next Episode
Episode 67: Doug Wallace talks about mitochondria, our human origins and the possibility of mitochondria-targeted therapies
Today’s guest is Dr. Douglas Wallace, the director of the Center for Mitochondrial and Epigenomic Medicine at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
He is internationally known as the founder of mitochondrial genetics. Mitochondria are tiny structures within cells that produce 90 percent of a person’s energy and play an essential role in health and disease.
Dr. Wallace’s groundbreaking research in the 1970s defined the genetics of DNA within the mitochondria, as distinct from DNA in a cell’s nucleus. His research has shown that mitochondrial DNA is inherited exclusively from the mother and that genetic alterations in the mitochondrial DNA can result in a wide range of metabolic and degenerative diseases.
One of Dr. Wallace’s seminal contributions has been to use a mitochondrial DNA variation to reconstruct human origins and the ancient migrations of women. These studies revealed that humans arose in Africa approximately 200,000 years ago, and that women as well as men left Africa about 65,000 years ago to colonize Eurasia.
Dr. Wallace was inducted last year into the Italian Academy of Sciences during the academy’s 234th annual meeting in Rome. Founded in 1782, membership in the academy is limited to 40 Italian scientists and 25 foreign members. Over the years, the academy has seen such notable members as Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Louis Pasteur and Rita Levi-Montalcini.
Links:
Dr. Wallace’s Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia bio:
https://www.chop.edu/doctors/wallace-douglas-c
Mitochondrial DNA Variation in Human Radiation and Disease
Wallace Cell Perspective 9-26-15
Mitochondrial DNA Mutation Associated with Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy
Wallace LHON 11778 Science 1988
A Mitochondrial Bioenergetic Etiology of Disease
Wallace JCI Wallace JAMA Psychiatry2017
Association Between Mitochondrial DNA Haplogroup Variation and Autism Disorders
Maternal Inheritance of Human Mitochondrial DNA
Giles Maternal Inheritance 1980
Show notes:
3:32: Dawn opens the interview by mentioning that Doug grew up exploring the woods outside his neighborhood in the suburbs of Annapolis, Maryland. Dawn asks if his time outdoors sparked his interest in science when he was young.
4:14: Dawn asks Doug what led him to attend Cornell University after graduating from high school.
5:15: Doug talks about his decision to focus on genetics in school.
6:21: Dawn asks Doug how he selected Yale for his graduate studies.
7:49: Ken mentions that mitochondria can be considered bacterial “power-pack” organelles that generate the majority of a cell’s energy, as well as much else. He goes on to say that mitochondria account for about 30 percent of our bodyweight, and that there are roughly 500 trillion of them. He finally points out that despite all this that they are surprisingly under attended to and asks Doug to give listeners a brief mitochondria 101.
13:37: Ken mentions how he’s glad Doug answered the question of how mitochondria ended up losing 99 percent of their original genes, considering that mitochondria used to be free living bacteria with roughly 1,500 genes.
15:25: Dawn points out that Doug and his colleagues are credited with founding the field of human mitochondrial genetics more than 40 years ago. She then asks if anyone else was doing similar research when Doug started working on human mitochondrial genetics during his post-doc.
17:55: Following his post-doc at Yale, Doug spent seven years at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dawn asks Doug about his work during this time.
22:01: Dawn mentions that in 1983 Doug became the professor of biochemistry, anthropology and pediatrics at Emory University in Atlanta. During this time, he also was chairperson and senior editor of the Mitochondrial DNA Locus-Specific Database for the Human Genome Organization. Dawn asks what that work entailed.
24:11: Ken asks Doug about accepting a professorship of molecular genetics at the University of California, Irvine where he founded the Center for Molecular and Mitochondrial Medicine and Genetics.
26:25: ...
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