Speakers

Prof. Levi Hargrove

Levi J. Hargrove, PhD, P.Eng, received his MScE and PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Brunswick (2005, 2008). He is currently the Director of Center for Bionic Medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, formerly the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC), and a Professor in the Departments of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University. His research interests include signal processing, pattern recognition, and control of bionic limbs. A major goal of his research is to develop clinically realizable myoelectric control systems that can be made available to persons with limb loss in the near future. In 2012, Dr. Hargrove co-founded Coapt, a company to commercialize control algorithms for prosthetics and orthotics. His research addresses all levels of amputation and has been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and the New England Journal of Medicine and has resulted in multiple patents. Key projects include the development of advanced and adaptive control systems for prosthetic legs, improving control of robotic hand prostheses, and intramuscular EMG signal processing.  

Prof. Strahinja Dosen

Strahinja Dosen is a Professor at the Department of Health Science and Technology (Faculty of Medicine) at Aalborg University, Denmark, where he leads the Neurorehabilitation Systems Research Group. He also serves as a Visiting Professor at the University of Novi Sad.
He holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering (2009) and has dedicated his research career to advancing rehabilitation engineering and medical robotics. His core expertise lies in human-machine interaction, myoelectric control, brain-machine interfacing, and functional electrical stimulation. His work focuses on artificial sensory feedback, haptics, and biomimetic design—key elements for closing the loop in controlling prosthetic and assistive systems.
Prof. Dosen leads several national and international projects aimed at restoring motor function and independence for amputees and stroke survivors. His recent activities include the development of sensory feedback for hyper-dexterous bionic hands (DexterHand ), high-bandwidth bidirectional control (NeuraLoop), cloud connected bionics (CLIMB), and the use of artificial intelligence to facilitate human-robot collaboration (AI:Cybernetics).

Eng. Roopa Somayaji

Roopa Somayaji is a leader in digital innovation within the prosthetics and orthotics (P&O) industry, with a strong foundation in engineering, rehabilitation science, and clinical technology. She hold a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from University of Alberta, a postgraduate diploma in Prosthetics and Orthotics from British Columbia Institute of Technology, and an MSc in Rehabilitation Science from McMaster University.

She began their career at Vorum, where she spent four years supporting CAD/CAM implementation across the P&O field. She later joined Ottobock SLC as a Development Engineer, contributing to product and process innovation for six years. Today, she lead the company’s digital segment.

Prof. Raphael Rätz

Raphael Rätz is a Tenure Track Professor of Cognitive Robotics in the Laboratory for Robotics in the Institute for Human-Centred Engineering at the Bern University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland. His work combines human-centred robotics, physical human-robot interaction, robotic manipulation, and learning-based robotic systems. During his PhD at the Motor Learning and Neurorehabilitation Laboratory at the University of Bern and TU Delft, he developed novel haptic rehabilitation devices and physics engine-based whole-hand haptic rendering approaches for upper-limb neurorehabilitation through a user-centred design and evaluation process, including systems validated in clinical and pre-clinical studies. He subsequently worked at Switzerland Innovation Park Biel/Bienne on reinforcement learning-based robotic manipulation and sim-to-real transfer. His recent academic research includes wheelchair-mounted assistive robotic arms and their human-machine interfaces, with emphasis on usability, semi-autonomous interaction, and real-world deployment in patients’ homes.

Lorenzo Amato

Lorenzo Amato received his BSc in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Pisa in 2020 and his MSc in Bionics Engineering, a joint degree program offered by Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna and the University of Pisa, in 2022. He then spent one year as a research fellow at the Wearable Robotics Laboratory of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna and completed a five-month internship at the Legs + Walking Lab of the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago, where he worked on lower-limb exoskeletons for robot-mediated interactions between patients and clinicians.
He is currently a third-year PhD student in BioRobotics at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna. His research focuses on the control, development, and verification of upper-limb exoskeletons for post-stroke rehabilitation, hybrid FES–exoskeleton systems, and clinical validation involving neurological patients.

Dr. Michele Canepa

Dr. Michele Canepa is Senior Electrical Engineer and BioInterNect Project Leader at the Rehab Technologies Laboratory at Italian Institute of Technology (IIT). He is also co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Ars Bionica startup, with the mission of transferring the lab bionic prosthetic technologies to the market. He received the B.Sc and M.Sc degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Genoa in 2014 and holds a PhD in Health Technologies from Open University Affiliated Research Center at IIT.

From 2014 he joined IIT, designing high TRL upper and lower limb bionic prostheses, upper and lower limb exoskeletons and bringing to the market the lower limb rehabilitation machine hunova with the startup Movendo Technology. He coauthored more than 30 publications and 7 patents.

Dr. Eleonora Guanziroli

Eleonora Guanziroli received the B.E. (2005) and the M.S. (2008) in biomedical engineering from the Politecnico di Milano and the Ph.D. (2014) degree in Applied Mechanics at the University of Brescia. Since 2008, she works at Villa Beretta Rehabilitation Center, rehabilitation department of Valduce Hospital. The research activity focuses on the biomechanical and autonomic system evaluation of patients with neurological disorders, development and testing of robotic devices for neurological patients, and management and maintenance of the Electronic Medical Record and on the development of new model of AI applied to rehabilitation medicine. Her research activity includes also European Projects and International Cooperation Projects. She authored about 75 papers.

Talks

Interfaces for Robust Long-Term Prosthetic Control

Levi Hargrove, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab

Abstarct - The field has largely converged on a familiar list of barriers to long-term myoelectric control—electrode shift, limb position effects, fatigue, and day-to-day donning variability. While these are real, I will argue they are not ....

Strahinja Dosen, Aalborg University

Abstract - Control methods for robotic prosthetic limbs have advanced considerably, enabling intuitive control of commercial prostheses through machine learning techniques. In contrast, the development of sensory...

Real-World Applications: Constraints on Interface Design

Roopa Somayaji, Ottobock

Abstract - Technological developments have revolutionized many aspects of the prosthetic field. The most advanced knee joint was once a basic hinge mechanism that would articulate...

Raphael Rätz, Bern University

Abstract - In stroke rehabilitation neuroplasticity is promoted through intensive, repetitive, and task specific training. Robotic rehabilitation devices and virtual reality...

Interfaces as a Means of Communication between Patients and Clinicians

Lorenzo Amato, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna

Abstract - This talk presents Robot-mediated Physical Human-Human Interaction, a framework that enables therapists and patients to physically interact through interconnected robotic systems...

Michele Canepa, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia

Abstract - The control of upper-limb prostheses is still limited by the difficulty of extracting robust and expressive motor intent from clinically viable sensing interfaces. In this talk, I will present a...

Biomarkers of Human-Robot Interaction in Robot-Assisted Rehabilitation

Eleonora Guanziroli, VIlla Beretta Rehabilitation Center

Abstract - In neurorehabilitation, human-robot interaction increasingly relies on physiological biomarkers to personalize therapy and monitor patient state during robot-assisted training. Heart rate variability (HRV)...