Neville Hogan
Professor, MIT Mechanical Engineering
Professor, MIT Brian & Cognitive Sciences

SENSE.nano 2021
Monday, October 25
Session 1: Movement & Motion
2:20 PM - 2:35 PM EDT

Abstract
Humans are supremely adaptive. That makes measurement difficult because the act of measuring may change the behavior to be measured. With a view to improving devices to treat balance disorders, we try to quantify the neuro-mechanical dynamics of upright human balance. The usual approach to dynamic system identification applies perturbations and observes their consequences, but perturbing upright balance induces humans to change how they balance (e.g. they crouch).

A solution Hogan pursued takes advantage of the noisiness (stochasticity) of the neuromotor system. Humans cannot stand perfectly still. However, the temporal fluctuations of their ground reaction force vectors are not entirely random—they exhibit surprising patterns when mapped to the frequency domain. By modeling this phenomenon Hogan successfully estimated the net multi-variable neuro-mechanical impedance (stiffness and damping) about the hip and ankle—without perturbing the subjects.

Biography
Neville Hogan is Sun Jae Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He earned a Diploma in Engineering (with distinction) from Dublin Institute of Technology and M.S., Mechanical Engineer and Ph.D. degrees from MIT. He joined MIT’s faculty in 1979 and presently directs the Newman Laboratory for Biomechanics and Human Rehabilitation. He co-founded Interactive Motion Technologies, now part of Bionik Laboratories.

Hogan's research includes robotics, motor neuroscience, and rehabilitation engineering, emphasizing the control of physical contact and dynamic interaction. Awards include: Honorary Doctorates from Delft University of Technology and Dublin Institute of Technology; the Silver Medal of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland; the Saint Patrick’s Day Medal for Academia from Science Foundation Ireland; the Henry M. Paynter Outstanding Investigator Award and the Rufus T. Oldenburger Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Dynamic Systems and Control Division; and from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the Academic Career Achievement Award from the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society and the Pioneers in Robotics Award from the Robotics and Automation Society.