Category: Media

Dr. George was recently featured in an article as an expert opinion on the impact and future of new research regarding a "third arm." Researchers at EPFL recently developed a robotic arm that can be controlled voluntarily, in coordination with your other hands, by modulating your diaphragm muscles. Dr. George reviewed the research as a part of this news release and noted how controlling an additional arm, as opposed to controlling a replacement arm, is a much more difficult and interesting challenge. Dr. George regularly provides expert opinions on the latest research in neurorobotic technology.

You can read the news article here: https://www.snexplores.org/article/robotic-arm-gives-extra-hand

The Utah NeuroRobotics Lab was highlighted in the latest University of Utah recruiting video airing online and on TV across the nation. The video highlights the many wonderful features of Utah, from the greatest snow (and skiing) on earth, to insane red-rock formations that are seemingly out of this world. The video also highlights the vibrant and diverse cultures within Salt Lake City and the surrounding Wasatch Mountains.  The video then goes on to highlight various highlights of the University of Utah, including a video of Dr. George and Connor Olsen working with the TASKA prosthetic hand in the Utah NeuroRobotics Lab, with a voiceover noting the University's "gifted professors."

Check out the inspiring video here:

In a recent article from Science, Dr. George discusses the latest neurorobotics research...

When someone loses a hand or leg, they don’t just lose the ability to grab objects or walk—they lose the ability to touch and sense their surroundings. Prosthetics can restore some motor control, but they typically can’t restore sensation. Now, a preliminary studyposted to the preprint server bioRxiv this month—shows that by mimicking the activity of nerves, a device implanted in the remaining part of the leg helps amputees “feel” as they walk, allowing them to move faster and with greater confidence.

“It's a really elegant study,” says Jacob George, neuroengineer at the University of Utah who was not involved with the research. Because the experiments go from a computational model to an animal model and then, finally humans, he says, “This work is really impactful, because it's one of the first studies that's done in a holistic way.”

Patients with prosthetics often have a hard time adapting. One big issue is that they can’t accurately control the device because they can’t feel the pressure that they’re exerting on an object. Hand and arm amputees, for example, are more prone to drop or break things. As a result, some amputees refuse to use such prosthetics.

In the past few years, researchers have been working on prosthetic limbs that provide more natural sensory feedback both to help control the device better and give them back a sense of agency over their robotic limb. In a critical study in 2019, George and his team showed that so-called biomimetic feedback, sensory information that aims to resemble the natural signals that occur with touch, allowed a patient who’d lost his hand to more precisely grip fragile objects such as eggs and grapes.

...[continue reading on Science]

When the University of Utah launched a capital campaign in 2014, the initial goal seemed lofty—$2 billion to be raised over eight years. No one could have anticipated the changes that lay ahead. Over the next decade, Utah’s population began to soar, new sectors of the economy heated up, and the COVID-19 pandemic shook the world. Despite those and other challenges, or perhaps in response to them, the university would meet its goals two years ahead of schedule, then go on to exceed them, with $3 billion raised over 8.5 years!

On April 30, the university celebrated the successful completion of the “Imagine New Heights: The Campaign for the University of Utah” with a public event on President’s Circle. Dr. George's research was featured in the celebration. The mission of the Utah NeuroRobotics Lab, to create an inclusive world for everyone - regardless of physical capabilities, was highlighted alongside projections of the famous "Luke Arm" on the University of Utah's presidential park building. Check out the spectacular light show below!

Dr. George's entrepreneurial and commercialization activities were recently featured in an article by the University of Utah's Partners for Innovation, Ventures, Outreach & Technology (PIVOT). Dr. George has produced numerous patents and technologies at the University of Utah, several of which have been licensed by companies and have formed the basis for startup companies. Dr. George attributes his lab's commercialization success with the entrepreneurial spirit across the University of Utah and the State of Utah in general. The University of Utah has been named the No. 1 research institution for starting technology companies based on university technology (Association of University Technology Managers). The state of Utah is also recognized as the No. 1 state to start a company (WalletHub) and has the highest rate of unicorn startups (valued over $1B), almost double the rate of the national average (Utah Business).