The Neuromechanics Lab is a highly interdisciplinary and collaborative research group based at Emory focused on understanding how we move. We seek to understand principles of biomechanics, neurophysiology, and rehabilitation, using experimental and computational methods drawn from physiology, robotics, mechanics, control theory, and machine learning.

We focused on questions regarding the interactions between the neural and biomechanical systems, using balance and gait as a motor paradigm. Our goal is to discover and identify quantitative principles of movement that enable us to understand individual differences in neural control of movement, how they arise, and how they differ across skilled and neurologically impaired individuals and change with training. We develop experimental paradigms, quantitative data analysis tools, and computational models to understand relationships between muscle activity, proprioceptive signals, and their interaction in the sensorimotor control of movement. Our work has been used by our lab and others to address a wide range of questions aimed at understanding motor expertise, mechanisms of mobility impairment and improvement with rehabilitation interventions, the design of assistive and rehabilitative devices, and the control of legged robots.

Clear interdisciplinary communication and respect of others’ ideas and views are a critical part of our lab values and culture. We believe that diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and an integrative and collaborative mindset is key to our success. By design, the interests and technical expertise of lab members varies widely. Studying movement, we also have personal experiences that shape our questions and interests. Lab training and meetings are centered around the principle that everyone has something to teach someone else, and something to learn from others, no matter their level of experience in research.