IHMC researchers to help build testing environment to improve operator awareness.

IHMC received nearly $4 million in grant funding as a subaward to SRI International’s “PROTEUS: Prototype Testing environment for User Situation awareness.”  

PROTEUS is a rapidly reconfigurable human-machine interface (HMI) testing environment for early and cost-effective testing of human machine prototypes, specifically those designed to improve operator situation awareness and support agile adaptation to off-nominal situations. 

The PROTEUS Team is a project the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and is a collaboration between SRI International (prime, headquartered in Menlo Park, CA), IHMC, and SkillMil, Inc., (Menlo Park, CA). IHMC’s effort is led by Senior Research Scientist Dr. Anil Raj. 

PROTEUS will develop and provide a set of plug-and-play, low-cost hardware configurations to support ecologically realistic environments across operational domains (e.g., air, maritime, space). 

The PROTEUS team will create a testbed design for conducting human research participant experiments, and execute protocols designed to deliver statistically significant operator situation awareness and performance assessment results in less than one week per iteration (“Evaluation Events”). Raj is responsible for conducting the Evaluation Events at IHMC.  

As it stands, creating a testbed for a new scenario that could sustain more than 30 in-person and 90 virtual participants typically takes weeks or months. With technologies developed under the PROTEUS project, the team believes they can cut that time to a few days per new scenario.
Increasing the number of design and testing iterations an HMI can go through before deployment has a major influence on its effectiveness. Making the iteration process faster and more efficient should pay dividends in the end.

The PROTEUS concept includes
·     On-site multimodal, rapidly reconfigurable fixed-base simulators as well as web-hosted “virtual” testbeds that enable remote users to participate in HMI evaluations.
·     Visual editors that enable collaborative development.
·     Build-time capabilities will include automated code generators to construct testbed-ready “instrumented” HMI prototypes used for functional and stress testing ahead of evaluation events.
·     Modeling technology that requires minimal calibration and extends diagnostic information for emotional and physiological state assessment (drowsiness, frustration).
·     Off nominal events and situation awareness assessment queries will be embedded in each scenario to test HMI support of graceful adaptation and impact on situation awareness.
·     PROTEUS will track and display operator attention dynamics using gaze-trackers (on-site testbeds) and webcams (remote), as well as task performance and situation awareness metrics in real time.

The grant runs through 2025.

This story is approved for public release by DARPA, with unlimited distribution. 

 IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others. 

IHMC celebrates National Robotics Week with open house on April 6

It’s time to get your peek behind the curtain.  

On April 6, Florida IHMC is inviting the public to meet Nadia, Valkyrie, Eva, Mini Cheetah, Wasp and the humans behind them in celebration of National Robotics Week. 

From 3 to 7 p.m. on April 6, 2023, researchers at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition will welcome the public and students for tours, walk-throughs and inspiration on the Pensacola campus on South Alcaniz Street. The last tour begins at 7 p.m. 

The family-friendly event encourages scientific discovery through hands-on activities, challenges, and demonstrations while providing the opportunity to learn about IHMC’s work from in-house researchers and educators. 

Visitors will be able to see IHMC researchers and their work in drones, robotics, virtual reality experiences, human performance research projects, data visualization, and more.  

 The MESS Hall, Pensacola’s hands-on science, technology, engineering, and math museum, also will be on hand with traveling exhibits.  

It will be IHMC’s first open house on campus since 2019.  

“To show our support for the community who has supported us so much in the past, we want to highlight all the technology that has been developed and grown right here in Pensacola,” said Dr. Robert Griffin, the research scientist at IHMC who leads the robotics group.  

“We couldn’t think of a better way to do this than to open our doors on National Robotics Week and share with others what we do. It’s our hope that people find our work interesting, inspiring, and educational,” Griffin said. 

Established by Congress in 2010 to raise awareness about robots and their important role in shaping the future of education, industry, and the U.S. economy, National Robotics Week brings together students, educators, and influencers who share a passion for robots and technology. 

This year’s event also features tours of the lab space that houses the Healthspan, Resilience, and Performance team, as well as some highlights of their research.  

Dr. Marcas Bamman, the senior research scientist who leads the HRP team, said visitors will be able to see the cutting-edge core laboratories used for clinical and biological research. That includes research in cognition and perception, neuromuscular function, cardiorespiratory function, body composition, clinical research unit, and more.  

* IHMC has begun construction of a new research facility on the corner of Alcaniz Street and Garden Street and parking may be limited. Please have patience and plan to arrive early to find available street parking. 

 

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others. 

Experts in spatial disorientation review innovations to mitigate risks of aviation mishaps

PENSACOLA — Recently, the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition hosted a gathering of international experts in spatial disorientation, the leading cause of deadly mishaps in military and commercial aviation.  

Over three days in late March, 87 members of the Spatial Orientation Modeling Expert (SOME) Workgroup shared the latest techniques to model spatial disorientation mishaps and to showcase the latest developments designed to mitigate the risk. The hope is to craft recommendations for future research on the model and designs of next-generation aerospace vehicles to improve pilot situation awareness and counter spatial disorientation.  

The Principal Investigator from IHMC for the workshop was Senior Research Scientist Dr. Jeff Phillips, an aviation human factors expert who has worked extensively in this area. The panels included astronauts Ken Cameron and Bill Shepard, who spoke at length about the spatial disorientation they experienced in space.   

The group has met twice before, once in 1994 and again in 2019. The first meeting led to the publication of the book “Spatial Disorientation in Aviation,” one of the most comprehensive references on the topic. This year’s meeting will result in the publication of a second volume.  

Senior Events Specialist Michelle Bowers said the workshop is just one of at least a dozen professional workshops, panels, and conferences that IHMC will host in 2023. Such gatherings reflect IHMC’s place in the scientific community — and serve as a draw to highlight the Pensacola area to researchers, scientists, and experts from across the globe. 

“In the local economy, there is a substantial community impact for restaurants, flights, hotels, rentals, retail shopping and much more, including showcasing the greater Pensacola community,” Bowers said. 

In addition to these professional gatherings, the Institute hosts an Evening Lecture series, open to the public, that features experts and researchers in fields from robotics to human healthspan and performance, public health, urban planning and more. Stay up to date on our public lectures at this link.  

IHMC’s podcast, STEM-Talk, is another avenue for outreach. STEM-Talk hosts Dr. Ken Ford, IHMC’s CEO and founder, and Dawn Kernagis, research scientist, have conversations with some of the most fascinating scientific minds. With more than 4 million total show listens over 150 episodes, STEM-Talk is a home for full and frank conversations with the most interesting people in science and technology.  Visit https://www.ihmc.us/stemtalks/ to keep up with the latest episodes or look for it wherever you listen to podcasts. 

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others. 

 

STEM-Talk: Dr. Barbara Thorne, conehead termite expert, on biology, control of these highly social insects

STEM-Talk episode 150 featuring termite biologist Dr. Barbra Thorne is now available on IHMC’s website as well as popular podcast apps. In her interview, Barbara talks about the invasive conehead species, a Central and South American termite that has invaded South Florida.

Barbara is a research professor and professor emerita in the Department of Entomology at the University of Maryland. Since 2012 she has served as the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services science advisor on the state’s Conehead Termite Program. She also chairs the National Scientific Advisory Committee for the Conehead Termite Program.

Barbara’s research focuses on the biology of termites, which are highly social insects that form complex colony structures. She earned her Ph.D. in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology in 1983 from Harvard University where she studied with the late Dr. E. O. Wilson, a renowned biologist and naturalist.

In this episode, Barbara discusses:

— How she had no interest in bugs until college when she went to a summer Bug Camp where she read E.O. Wilson’s book, “The Insect Societies.”

— The 15 years she spent in E.O. Wilson’s lab at Harvard.

— How she began working in the field of applied termite biology.

— Her research into targeted applications for the control of termites.

— Her papers on the eusociality in termites and how the existence of social insects was something that stumped Charles Darwin.

— A TED-Ed video lesson about the conehead termite queen, one of the longest living insects in the animal kingdom.

— The work she is doing in Florida to target and control the invasive conehead termite, which is causing serious damage in the state.

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

Summer Robotics Camp 2023 registration opens this week.

Summer Robotics Camp is one of IHMC’s signature community outreach efforts — and it’s almost here. Registration opens this week for the summer 2023 sessions. Visit https://www.ihmc.us/life/robotics-camp/ to register. 

“Our students always enjoy getting to know likeminded students and spending four days learning to program Lego robots and seeing them respond to their commands,” said Dr. Ursula Schwuttke, director of educational outreach for IHMC’s Pensacola and Ocala campuses. 

Robotics camp takes place in June 2023 and offers students the chance to learn the basics of robotics, coding, and problem-solving. Camp is in two sessions: June 5-8 for rising eighth graders; and June 12-15 for rising ninth and 10th graders in Pensacola.  

Ocala camp dates are June 26-29 for rising eighth graders, and July 10-13 for rising ninth- and 10th-graders. 

“Fun science gives kids the ability to discover their interest and ability in science, and to develop self-confidence,” says Schwuttke. “Opportunity is vitally important for kids. Without the opportunity to discover their interest, they can’t know that it’s something they should pursue.” 

While assembling and programming the robots is of course the fun part, Schwuttke says a highlight of camp is the chance to meet and mingle with researchers on the IHMC team, as is the photo shoot with the Atlas robot and the tour of the robotics lab.  

Last year, Senior Research Scientist Dr. Jeff Phillips, Research Scientist Dr. Gwen Bryan, and Research Associates Duncan Calvert, Nicole Esposito and Josh Farina all took time out of their schedules to visit with campers, have lunch and share information on their current research, and how they launched their own science careers. 

Robotics Camp is sponsored by Cox, the Escambia Sheriff’s Office, Barnes Insurance, and Florida Blue.  Their support made camp possible and allowed us to include students from the Educational Talent Search Program at Pensacola State College and Pace Center for Girls, to help create a pipeline for IHMC to share what we love about science with students in every corner of the community. 

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.  

 

Space Florida, IHMC partnership includes collaboration, research support

A partnership between Space Florida and the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition has been quietly growing. Most recently, Space Florida contributed $2 million in support of that collaboration.  

When construction of IHMC’s newest research building is completed in the summer of 2024, Space Florida will have office space in the new facility — additional evidence of how closely the two entities intend to work together. 

“Among the topics our human performance team is exploring is how humans respond both physically and cognitively to stress and how we perform in extreme environments,” said IHMC Founder and CEO Dr. Ken Ford. “Space is among the most extreme environments in which humans perform. Seen through that lens, a collaborative partnership between IHMC and Space Florida clearly benefits both entities.” 

Space Florida was created to support the growth and development of a sustainable and world-leading aerospace industry throughout the state. It promotes aerospace and space-related business development, business financing, spaceport operations, research and development, workforce development, and innovative education programs statewide. 

The space and aerospace-related sector fuels some $19 billion of the state’s economy. More than 17,144 aerospace-related companies call Florida home, according to the  aerospace finance and development authority. 

“It’s been exciting for our team at Space Florida to work with IHMC in supporting its multifaceted research endeavors, much of which translates well into the realm of space and aerospace.” said Howard Haug, Space Florida’s executive vice president, treasurer and chief investment officer.. 

The partnership creates another foothold for Space Florida’s expanding presence in Northwest Florida, which includes an advanced manufacturing program at Pensacola State College, and the Leonardo Helicopter maintenance facility at Peter Prince Airport in Santa Rosa County. 

Anna Alexopoulos Farrar, Space Florida’s vice president for corporate communications, said the IHMC partnership is part of a mission-critical investment in research and development for the state’s aerospace industry. 

“The work with IHMC underscores the importance of extending our reach beyond one region,” she said. “Florida isn’t just competing with other states, we are competing with sovereign nations that operate within very different regulatory systems. To emerge as a powerhouse of the aerospace industry and for aerospace capital, Space Florida has reached across county lines working with companies and organizations from the Panhandle to South Florida.” 

Farrar said that space no longer is solely about exploration — it’s a strategic economic system that thrives with investment in the future. From AI and robotics to health and resilience, this partnership will extend to areas that will fuel the aerospace industry for years to come.  

“It’s through research and development that we can revolutionize the way we explore our universe and solve complex problems of today and the yet to be imagined,” Farrar said. 

“Our mission is to make Florida the ground node, the leading global entity for the emergence of a space economy in low earth orbit,” Farrar said. “With this continued partnership and investment between IHMC and Space Florida, the possibilities can be endless if we invest in them.”  

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

WATCH: Dr. Karen Wooley on the future of sustainable, biodegradable plastics.

Dr. Karen Wooley wants to find the next iteration of sustainable, biodegradable plastics. She’s looking to the insect world for part of the answer.  

Wooley, who holds the W. T. Doherty-Welch Chair in Chemistry and is a University Distinguished Professor at Texas A&M University, spoke as part of the Smart Lecture series at IHMC. If you couldn’t be with us in person, watch her lecture here. 

Her lecture shared the latest efforts to support the commercial translation of carbohydrate-derived degradable plastics to harvesting of building blocks from insect feedstocks.  

As scaled-up production of biomass-based biodegradable polymers grows, focus has turned to harvesting the naturally-derived building blocks from black soldier flies, to avoid competition with resources that are important to food, fuel, and construction. The goal is not just improving sustainability, but digestibility should the product end up in an animal or human.  

The inspiration for the work has links to the world of orthopedic medicine, where the mismatches in tensile strength, functionality and longevity between bone and materials like metal or polymer-based screws, rods or inserts, led to the focus on finding bioplastics that could substitute.  

Watch our video recap here to learn more.  

STEM-Talk: Jeff Volek on what we’ve learned in 30 years about keto, carb-restricted diets and health

Dr. Jeff Volek has been investigating how humans adapt to ketogenic and carbohydrate-restricted diets for 30 years.   

On his return to STEM-Talk — available on our website and wherever you enjoy podcasts— Jeff talks about a growing accumulation of studies supporting a ketogenic diet to improve metabolic health, as well as research confirming the relative safety of dietary fat. 

Jeff is a professor in the Department of Human Sciences at Ohio State University. He is known for his research on the clinical application of ketogenic diets in the management of insulin resistance and type-2 diabetes. His first STEM-Talk appearance was in 2017. 

Americans have long been led to believe that saturated fats lead to obesity and heart disease. This flawed assumption remains at the root of much public health policy, despite there has been a steady accumulation of studies over the last 20 years supporting carbohydrate restriction as well as the relative safety of dietary fat advances.  

Jeff addressed this in a paper in Science titled “Dietary Fat: From Foe to Friend?”, and also, a paper in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology titled “Saturated Fats and Health: A Reassessment and Proposal for Food Based Recommendations.” 

He says this even furthermore “debunks the dogma that saturated fats should be limited because they cause obesity.” 

Our STEM-Talk conversation also includes:  

• The remarkable progress that has been made in the science of low-carbohydrate nutrition in the past 30 years. 
• How Jeff’s research has expanded to look at a well-formulated ketogenic diet’s potential in the treatment of mental health, heart disease and cancer. 
•  An initiative Jeff is conducting to address how the poor metabolic health of the nation is impacting our military and therefore poses a significant threat to the future of the military and our nation’s defense. 
• Jeff’s thoughts on the recent popularity of fasting and time-restricted eating.  We also ask what Jeff’s own daily diet looks like. 

WATCH: Dr. Alexander Fleming’s Evening Lecture on geroscience and healthy longevity

People are living longer, but those longer years are often marred by multiple chronic diseases — and the exploding cost of managing those conditions — in the final and least productive years of life.  

In the first IHMC Evening Lecture of 2023, Dr. Alexander Fleming talked about efforts to understand how we can extend our productive, healthy years — a concept he calls healthy longevity. If you couldn’t be with us in person, you can still learn from Dr. Fleming with our video recap. Watch it here. 

Fleming is a former head of clinical review at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for products for diabetes and other metabolic and endocrine disorders. His notable drug approvals at FDA included the first statin and metformin. He represented the FDA at the World Health Organization and other international initiatives.  

He founded Kinexum, a company with expertise in developing drugs, biotech products, including gene and cell therapies, medical devices, and digital health technologies.  

In 2020, he founded the not-for-profit Kitalys Institute to facilitate testing, regulation, and commercialization of healthspan products. Kitalys produces the annual Metabesity conference, which began in 2017 and brings together global experts, policymakers, and advocates for equaling healthspan to lifespan.   

In his IHMC lecture, Fleming touched on geroscience, a discipline that looks to understand the biological roots causes of aging and disease in order to target and treat those. It’s a focus that could improve our own lives and reduce the financial and societal burden of unhealthy aging. 

As we wait for the fruits of some promising science, supported by successful results in higher animals, Fleming noted that the standby advice of physical activity, lifestyle, and diet still apply. 

 

IHMC breaks ground on new, $30 million human performance research complex

The Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition broke ground today on a new $30 million project in downtown Pensacola, setting up the next chapter in the research facility’s journey of innovation and collaboration. 

The IHMC Healthspan, Resilience and Performance complex will be a leading-edge lab and office building that will create a research hub, based in Northwest Florida, for advancing human healthspan, resilience, and performance with the potential to lead the field. The facility is an investment in the intellectual capital of Northwest Florida, creating a hub of excellence in healthspan, resilience, and performance research that will draw leading scientific minds to the region. 

“This facility, and the people housed in it, really will be one-of-a-kind, and it will be a reputational jewel for our community and region,” IHMC’s founder and CEO Dr. Ken Ford said. 

IHMC is funding the cost of the building. Partnering with the Institute are two state agencies, Triumph Gulf Coast, a nonprofit corporation created to manage the funds from the settlement of the BP Deepwater Horizon 2010 oil spill disaster; and Space Florida, the agency charged with supporting and growing the state’s aviation and aerospace industries. Triumph is funding a substantial portion of the specialized research equipment to be housed in the new facility. Space Florida is collaborating with IHMC on research and technology.  

“What IHMC represents in its research activities, grand vision, and direction is precisely what Triumph Gulf Coast seeks to support and encourage,” said David Bear, chairman of the Triumph Gulf Coast Board of Directors. Bear said Triumph is proud to invest in the future of IHMC.  

“From here, bright minds from across the globe will join to collaborate, innovate, and develop ideas that may fundamentally change the way we act, move, respond, heal,” he said. “It is so cool that this amazing, next-generation research is happening from our beautiful city and from Northwest Florida.” 

Howard Haug, executive vice president, treasurer and chief investment officer for Space Florida, said partnering with IHMC has been an exciting collaboration. 

“Partnerships are key to realizing amazing things,” Haug said. “We look forward to the completion of this complex, where members of our team will co-mingle with IHMC and its other strategic partners in military, industry, and academia, to further innovation and technological developments important to Florida’s aerospace presence and future.” 

DAG Architects, partnered with Atlanta-headquartered Cooper Carry, designed the building. Brasfield & Gorrie was chosen to lead the construction of the facility located at the corner of Garden and Alcaniz streets in Pensacola.   

When complete, it will expand IHMC’s downtown Pensacola campus to three primary buildings and will be consistent with, and complementary to, the Levin Center for IHMC Research, which primarily houses research in robotics, human-machine teaming, and intelligent networked systems. 

“We will be collaborating closely with regional institutions and organizations that share an interest in human health span and performance, and these collaborations will lead to innovative spinoff opportunities and technology transfer,” Ford said. “Certainly, the addition of this complex will bolster the regional economy through new funding in federal and industry-sponsored research.”  

“This facility, and the scientists and engineers that it will host, will permit IHMC to be one of the few research institutions able to work effectively at all levels from a single molecule of interest to a whole human, and even teams of humans and machines.” Ford said. 

Ford said a unique aspect of IHMC, which will be substantially advanced by the new complex, is the ability to integrate researchers who specialize in healthspan, performance, and resilience with computational scientists, artificial intelligence researchers, and roboticists. 

“Innovation is place-based,” he said. “This exciting new research complex in the heart of historic downtown Pensacola will enable continuous interactions and frequent collisions of people and ideas across many academic disciplines. IHMC is fundamentally a habitat for innovation.” 

It also is a strong symbol of IHMC’s commitment to investing in Pensacola itself. IHMC was among the pioneers of seeing the potential of downtown, locating its headquarters in the city after outgrowing its space from its beginnings on campus at the University of West Florida.  

Delarian Wiggins, Pensacola City Council president, said it is encouraging to see IHMC’s continued dedication to and investment in the City. He also noted the Institute’s commitment to community outreach through Evening Lectures, Science Saturdays and more demonstrates its commitment to making Pensacola the best place it can be. 

“As a City leader, it’s exciting to know that IHMC’s success has sustained employment of over 100 individuals from across the world, certainly contributing to our economy but, more so, adding to the cultural diversity and international understanding within our community,” Wiggins said. “Your institution’s focus on promoting a great environment where our citizens can ‘live, work, and play’ is a fundamental cornerstone of any successful community.” 

The project should be completed in early 2024.   

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry, and academia to help develop breakthrough science and technology. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others. 

 

STEM-Talk: Ed Weiler on the Hubble and James Webb telescopes and NASA’s search for life

Ed Weiler wanted to be among NASA’s first scientist astronaut. He made it through several rounds of selection, but in the end, he wasn’t chosen.  

“Then I gave up and was happy to be an astronomer,” Weiler says.  

Fortunately, he had another path that brought him to NASA. Indeed, he went on to a 33-year career at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, including 20 years as chief scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope, the forerunner of the James Webb. 

In STEM-Talk Episode 147, available now on IHMC’s website and wherever you listen to podcasts, Dr. Ed Weiler talks about his career, one in which he wore many hats. His roles included Associate Administrator of the Science Mission Directorate; Center Director of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Associate Administrator for NASA’s Space Science Enterprise, chief of the Ultraviolet/Visible and Gravitational Astrophysics Division and director of the Astronomical Search for Origins Program. 

The conversation in this episode includes: 

— NASA’s accomplishments in the past year, including the Perseverance mission, the success of the James Webb telescope, and the launch of Artemis-1. 

— Ed’s experience as the Chief Scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope during its early development. 

— Ed’s time as the director of NASA’s Astronomical Search for Origins program. 

— Ed’s role in the development of the New Horizons spacecraft and its mission to fly by and study Pluto and its moons. 

— Ed’s belief that in the next 20 to 50 years, we will be able to prove the existence of other life in the universe. “Within 15 or 20 years… our grandchildren will live to be able to observe for the first time in history humans being able to say, ‘We are not alone.’” 

IHMC wins Best Paper award at International Conference on Humanoid Robots 2022

The IHMC’s robotics team recently was lauded at one of the premier conferences in their field. 

The team of Duncan Calvert, Bhavyansh Mishra, Stephen McCrory, Sylvain Bertrand, Robert Griffin, and Jerry Pratt won the Best Paper award at the International Conference on Humanoid Robots 2022 conference in November in Okinawa, Japan. 

The conference is sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE) Robotics and Automation Society. The paper is titled “A Fast, Autonomous, Bipedal Walking Behavior Over Rapid Regions.” It is linked here.

The publication highlights a newly constructed behavior control system for achieving fast, autonomous, bipedal walking, without pauses or deliberation. The control system uses a recently published rapid planar regions perception algorithm, a height map-based body path planner, an A* footstep planner, and a momentum-based walking controller to improve the humanoid’s performance over uneven terrain. 

Walking over flat terrain is something humanoids are adept at across the industry. The behavior control system IHMC’s team developed dramatically improves the robot’s ability to smoothly traverse rough terrain (broken concrete and cinder blocks). 

“Humanoid robots have a very difficult time traversing anything other than perfectly flat ground. They also have a hard time doing anything by themselves,” said Duncan Calvert, IHMC Research Associate. “We’re addressing both of those issues in this latest work, which is built on a simple idea: look at the ground, take a step, and repeat. It turns out to be not so simple to implement, which is why researchers have been working on this problem for decades.” 

Calvert said the team made several improvements to the current state of the art and demonstrated it on Nadia, IHMC’s newest humanoid robot. The improvements allow Nadia to walk alone without pauses over a pile of cinder blocks.  

“We are incredibly happy with our result and are honored by its positive reception,” Calvert said.  

Of note: The last three times the IHMC robotics team has submitted a paper to the conference — 2016, 2019, and now 2022 — they have received the Best Paper award. 

“It’s a huge honor to be recognized with this award,” said Research Scientist Dr. Robert Griffin, who leads the IHMC robotics team. “It’s an enormous amount of work from many people to generate this type of result that includes the entire robot pipeline, from hardware to perception to locomotion, so to have our contributions acknowledged by our colleagues in such a way, many of whom are doing incredible works themselves, is fantastic.” 

Calvert said there will be several improvements for the reliability and performance of this algorithm that they will be tackling over the next few years.  

“It’s a really exciting time for our lab,” Calvert said. 

 

Science Saturdays start 2023 with sessions on robotics, roller coasters, human performance and more

The joy is in discovery. 

That’s what Nicole Esposito sees at Science Saturdays, IHMC’s weekend science enrichment series. She is an IHMC Research Associate who works in the robotics lab at Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola. The team she is part of has an international reputation for excellence and innovation. 

But Science Saturdays connects her to a larger purpose.  

“It’s always a joy to watch how quickly these kids learn,” she said. “It’s always fun to talk about a topic you enjoy, but doing so with these groups of kids, who are so eager and ready to learn, is a special experience.” 

Last fall, Esposito taught a session on 3D printing at Science Saturdays, giving students a safe and fun educational space in which to explore scientific topics and interests.  

“Exploring the ways they understand these topics is just as enlightening for me as it is for them, and it’s always fascinating to see how well they reason through certain puzzles and challenges and come to inventive and intelligent solutions,” Esposito said. 

Science Saturdays is a series of 90-minute educational enrichment sessions. Topics in 2023 will include robotics, roller coasters, animal adaptations, human performance, and more.  The sessions are free to the families who attend, thanks to the support of community partners.  

In 2022, each Science Saturdays session hosted about 100 students, said Dr. Ursula Schwuttke, director of educational outreach for IHMC. She surveys parents to gauge the impact of the sessions.  

All families report that the sessions boost their children’s scientific curiosity, motivation in science class, enjoyment of science and self-confidence in general. But families whose children qualify for free and reduced-price lunch uniformly report more impact on motivation and self-confidence in science class than other participating families, the surveys show. 

“Our goal with Science Saturdays is to spark a love of science in a fun, hands-on engaging way,” Schwuttke said. “It is so gratifying to hear that our students feel more confident and motivated academically as a result. We can’t wait to bring the 2023 season to families.” 

Sponsors for the 2023 series include NextEra Energy Foundation/Florida Power & Light, which awarded IHMC a $7,500 grant to support the program in Pensacola. Cox is a $5,000 grantor, and that gift supports Science Saturday in both Pensacola and Ocala.  

Pensacola supporters also include Florida Blue Foundation, Barnes Insurance and Financial Services, the Escambia County Sherriff’s Office (with Law Enforcement Trust Fund monies).  

Ocala supporters also include Lockheed Martin, Ron and Phyllis Ewers, Eleanor and Gary Simons, and Ocala Electric Utility. 

SCIENCE SATURDAY SPRING SCHEDULE  

The schedule for Science Saturday for the Spring is complete. Use this link to stay up to date on dates and topics for these sessions. And share the link with friends with children in grades 3-6 https://www.ihmc.us/life/science_saturdays/  

Pensacola Sessions 

Jan. 21: Dr. Marcas Bamman, IHMC, Stronger, Faster, Smarter.  

Feb. 25: Meredith Yeager, IHMC, Reaction Time. 

March 25: Dr. Lakshmi Prayaga, University of West Florida, Smart Cities.  

April 22: Dr. Gwen Bryan, IHMC, Robot Hands.    

Ocala Sessions 

Jan. 7: Scott Weeks, Florida Engineering Society, Paper Roller Coasters. 

Feb. 4: Erin Benavides, Silver River Museum, Amazing Animal Adaptations.  

March 4: Graham Young, College of Central Florida, Photo Editing. 

April 1: Dr. Peter Polack, Ocala Eye, Optics and Jell-O Lenses.   

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer technologies aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities.

Dr. James Allen named fellow by Association for Computational Linguistics

IHMC Associate Director and Senior Research Scientist Dr. James Allen has earned another accolade in his long and distinguished career in natural language understanding and research.

Allen in December 2022 was named a fellow by the Association for Computational Linguistics. He was one of eight leaders in the field to be so recognized by ACL, a leading professional organization in the study of computational language processing — a field Allen has helped pioneer.

The nominating committee recognized Allen, who is also a professor emeritus at the University of Rochester where he has been on the faculty since 1978, “for significant contributions to natural language dialogue research, planning and plan recognition.”

Allen’s research concerns defining computational models of intelligent collaborative and conversational agents that can interact effectively with humans in a wide range of problem-solving and analysis tasks.

His research is unique in that it combines what often are treated as separate fields in artificial intelligence. Those fields include knowledge representation and reasoning, language understanding, planning, intention recognition, and learning. Allen’s system is a high-performance generic collaborative agent that can be rapidly adapted to new problem-solving domains.

Computational linguistics is the science at the root of speech recognition systems, text-to-speech synthesizers, automated voice-response systems, internet search engines, text editors, language instruction material and more.

Allen joined IHMC in 2006. Since earning his Ph.D. in computer science in 1979 from the University of Toronto and receiving the Presidential Young Investigator award from the National Science Foundation in 1984, Allen has built an international reputation as a leader in AI and collaborative human-machine interaction.

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer technologies aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. For more information, visit ihmc.us.

 

 

IHMC launches 2023 Evening Lecture Series in January

IHMC’s 2023 Evening Lecture series is kicking off this month with speakers highlighting healthy longevity and progress in exoskeleton research.

Both IHMC campuses — Pensacola and Ocala — are opening the free public lecture series with January lectures by Dr. Alexander Fleming and Dr. Gwen Bryan.

How can you increase healthy longevity beyond common senses measures such as good nutrition and physical activity? That’s the subject that Fleming will explore on Jan. 25 in Pensacola.

Fleming’s talk, “Targeting Healthy Longevity—Why, How, and When Will We Have the Means of Living Longer and Healthier,” is the first of the 2023 season of Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition’s public lecture series.

Fleming, a former head of clinical review at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for products for diabetes and other metabolic and endocrine disorders, is scheduled to speak at IHMC’s downtown Pensacola campus. The doors open at 5:30 p.m.; the talk begins at 6 p.m.

Guests can hear Fleming share more about what the latest science says about slowing the aging process and what you can do now to increase healthspan. His talk also covers drugs that are under development to slow the aging process and increase healthspan — and the challenges of doing so.

Register for the free event here.

Fleming founded Kinexum, a company with professional expertise in developing drugs, biotech products, including gene and cell therapies, medical devices, and digital health technologies. In 2020, he founded the not-for-profit Kitalys Institute to facilitate testing, regulation, and commercialization of healthspan products. Kitalys produces the annual Metabesity conference, which began in 2017 and brings together global experts, policymakers, and advocates for equaling healthspan to lifespan.

Fleming earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of West Florida, his M.D. and internal medicine training from Emory University and training in endocrinology at Vanderbilt University. After four years at the National Institutes of Health, he went on to the FDA. His notable, but then controversial drug approvalsincluded the first statin and metformin. He represented the FDA at the World Health Organization and other international initiatives.

For the latest updates to the Evening Lecture schedule, click here.

In Ocala, Dr. Gwen Bryan kicks off the lecture series with a look at the future of exoskeletons on Jan. 19 with her talk, “Improving Human Performance Through Wearable Robotics.” The doors open at 5:30 p.m.; the talk begins at 6 p.m. For details, and to register for the free lecture, click here.

Bryan is a Research Scientist at IHMC who focuses on powered exoskeletons. She investigates lower-limb wearable robotic devices aimed at augmenting human performance in clinical, occupational, and military applications and intends to maximize exoskeleton benefits through a human-centered research approach.

This talk will highlight IHMC’s work developing an augmentative exoskeleton for U.S. Department of Energy workers and a rehabilitative exoskeleton for those with spinal cord injuries. It concludes by discussing future directions of exoskeleton technology at IHMC.

Lower-limb exoskeletons have the potential to help a variety of user populations. These devices can augment user performance to increase human capabilities or rehabilitate individuals with limited mobility or chronic injuries. Performance augmentation devices could reduce the strain felt by those in high-intensity professions, such as laborers, military personnel, or athletes. Meanwhile, rehabilitative exoskeletons are well-suited to assist patient populations, such as those with spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, or multiple sclerosis.

Bryan earned her Ph.D. in the Stanford Biomechatronics Lab, where she developed a hip-knee-ankle exoskeleton emulator, a flexible research testbed for rapid iteration of exoskeleton strategies. She then optimized exoskeleton assistance in response to real-time physiological measurements through human-in-the-loop optimization (HILO). With this strategy, she evaluated the impact of exoskeleton assistance on walking economy when assisting the hips, knees, or ankles individually or simultaneously.

Save the date for these upcoming Ocala lectures: March 9, Tom Jones; April 20, Morgan Cable.

STEM-Talk: Dr. Gwen Bryan shares the future of exoskeletons

We walk every day, so we think it’s an easy thing to do. But when we try to recreate it with an exoskeleton in the lab, the truth reveals how complex and challenging it is.

That’s the puzzle that Dr. Gwen Bryan is working to solve as part of the exoskeleton team at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition.

Episode 147 of “STEM-Talk” features a conversation with Bryan, an IHMC Research Scientist who investigates wearable robotic devices aimed at augmenting human performance in clinical, occupational, and military applications.  The episode is available now wherever you listen to podcasts.

With the exoskeleton team at IHMC, Bryan is particularly focused on maximizing the benefits of powered exoskeletons. At IHMC, Gwen leads the exoskeleton team, which is developing a novel augmentative device that continues IHMC’s research on mobility devices for people with spinal cord injury. The team also is researching a powered exoskeleton to aid government employees who work at nuclear site remediation.   

The team’s effort, which utilize a human-centered research approach, is uniquely situated to expand exoskeleton research and technology because of the expertise and collaboration among IHMC’s robotics and human-performance research groups. 

Listen to the conversation here.

STEM-Talk: Dr. Dan Pardi on flipping the focus to “actual health”

What a revolution might it be if the healthcare system was built around our actual health, as opposed to the way it currently centers on treating an injury or disease once it occurs? 

That’s one of the ideas that Dr. Dan Pardi explores in the latest episode of STEM-Talk (Episode 146). In his conversation with IHMC Founder Dr. Ken Ford and IHMC Senior Research Scientist Dr. Marcas Bamman, Pardi talks about the flaws in a health system that is really built around treatment, rather than health and wellness support — and what it might take to switch that focus. 

Pardi is the CEO of humanOS.me – a digital health training application. He is well known for his research into sleep and has collaborated with the U.S. military as well as organizations including Adobe, Salesforce, Workday, Pandora, Intuitive Surgical, and more.  

His own podcast, humanOS Radio, is the official podcast of the Sleep Research Society, the Canadian Sleep Society, and a content partner of the Buck Institute on Aging. Dan collaborated with more than 100 science professors around the globe to create his digital humanOS application.

Pardi has a Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience from Leiden University in the Netherlands, and Stanford University in the United States. He has a master’s degree in exercise physiology from Florida State University and currently lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife, two young boys, and their dog, Wally. 

The STEM-Talk conversation with Pardi covers his early career in bioinformatics and how a trip to Moscow led to his doctoral research of sleep and treatments for narcolepsy.  

He also talks about the Loop Model to Adopt and Sustain Health Behaviors, a behavior model he developed during his Ph.D. studies. The Loop Model became the core of humanOS. Finally, the conversation moves to the concepts of “actual health,” health performance experts and a shift in what aging means that he believes is important to improving the quality of life for all of us. 

Listen today wherever you enjoy podcasts.  

Exoskeleton research at IHMC moving forward

IHMC has a long legacy of excellence in exoskeleton research. The potential benefits of exoskeletons include increased strength and endurance, reduced joint loading, resistance exercise, rehabilitation after injury, and enabling mobility for those with disease or disability.

Two exoskeleton projects at IHMC — Quix and Eva — are undergoing upgrades thanks to a robotics team that is itself been expanded in the last two years. Read more about this and other IHMC projects in the newest edition of the newsletter.

Quix is the fourth exoskeleton prototype developed by the IHMC exoskeleton team. It’s getting a new lease on life as the team has been upgrading the device and its software. Quix was designed to increase the mobility and independence of people with lower-body paralysis. The team is now investigating potential applications for rehabilitation therapy.

Team members have now developed another wearable robot, Eva, to help extend healthspan and the quality of life for workers who must use heavy personal protective equipment during physically demanding and hazardous work.

The revamp of Quix and the development of Eva are among the first major projects for the growing robotics team, and Research Scientist Dr. Robert Griffin said it has been exciting to see the way new personnel and ideas have enhanced the projects.

Quix has been at rest since the 2020 Cybathlon, where it finished as a finalist among intense international competition. Griffin and his team have spent the last several months putting Quix through its paces to move toward the next iteration of software governing the exoskeleton.

“Over the next six to nine months, we will be continuing to work on improving the gait,” Griffin said. “We will be collecting biomechanical data so that the IHMC team can better understand the physiological demands of using the device. We also will be exploring methods for increasing the speed and robustness of the existing gait.”

While improving the mechanical and software aspects of Quix are important, the team also is deepening the active research areas in the project.

While an exoskeleton offers people with lower-limb paralysis the chance to resume everyday activities, the device is heavy. Understanding how Quix affects the wearer physiologically can lead to improvements that make it easier to wear for longer periods of time.

“This will help us understand how to improve exoskeletons to be more accessible,” Griffin said.

Continuing to work on improving Quix’s gait while broadening the scope of the effort to tie in IHMC’s human performance research program is precisely the kind of cross-discipline, collaborative work that IHMC fosters.

Growing the team

A big part of Quix’s next steps — both figuratively and literally — has been to add expertise to the robotics team. Team members Dr. Gwen Bryan and Dr. Greg Sawicki have come on board, bringing with them an important focus on the interface of robotic exoskeletons and human performance.

“Our team has traditionally focused solely on robotics,” Griffin said. “Adding people like Gwen — with her experience in robotics and biomechanics — and Greg — who has expertise in both disciplines but has been focused more on biomechanics — will broaden us in a critical way.”

Bryan joined IHMC after completing her Ph.D. at Stanford University in 2021. During her doctorate, she developed a hip-knee-ankle exoskeleton emulator and used that device to find optimized exoskeleton assistance. Through human-in-the-loop optimization (HiLO), she found effective exoskeleton assistance for a range of walking speeds as well as with a variety of worn loads. She also investigated if people are sensitive to customized exoskeleton assistance.

“Exoskeletons are a fantastic bridge between the disciplines of robotics and health, resilience, and human performance,” Bryan said.

Sawicki says the main innovation the team is hoping to apply to Quix’s control is human in the loop optimization (HiLO).

“Gwen Bryan is a world leader in applying this approach to discover full-leg exoskeleton assistance strategies that can improve human ‘gas mileage’ in young, healthy people — think soldiers or aid workers,” Sawicki says. “We are working to adapt her previous approach to focus on finding walking gaits on Quix that can maximize a pilot’s walking speed without de-stabilizing them or overtaxing their body. We are also explicitly including feedback from user’s regarding their preference in order to customize the tuning of the exoskeleton’s motions.”

Sawicki joined IHMC in 2022 while maintaining his home base at the Human Physiology of Wearable Robotics (PoWeR) laboratory at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.

Sawicki will embed with the robotics, exoskeletons and human robotics interdependence group, with Quix among the projects on which he will focus.

Sawicki’s lab at Georgia Tech has focused on adapting the biological mechanisms that drive human lower-limb joint power output to develop wearable robots that help people walk better.

Sawicki says the team is close to starting testing using Quix to navigate the in-lab “terrain park.” The goal is to implement the new optimized control and compare it against baseline “out-of-the-box” exoskeleton gaits.

“If we are successful, pilots should be able to walk faster and with less effort in Quix,” he says.

Bryan says the Quix team has been working the last few months on ground contact detection and adjusting exoskeleton gaits to look more natural. Contact detection leverages sensors in Quix to signal when the pilot’s foot has made initial contact with the ground, and then algorithms in Quix’s controller adjust the gait in response. This could be useful when walking over uneven terrain, climbing 32 stairs, or if the pilot’s gait varies step to step or is slightly unstable.

“Currently, (our pilot) is able to adapt to any sort of disturbances while walking, and this feature would reduce the amount of effort needed to maintain stable walking,” Bryan says. “Natural gait has adjusted the gait patterns to look more similar to able-bodied walking.”

This is easiest to see in foot clearance during swing, Bryan says. In the previous gait pattern, there was a large amount of foot clearance during swing, which made the gait look like marching instead of walking. The new pattern has a lower foot clearance, giving the gait a walking appearance and allowing the pilot to walk faster with fewer disturbances, Bryan says.

That includes incorporating more biomechanical feedback to continue to improve Quix’s form and function. This means looking into how gait pattern “impacts self-selected walking speed, muscle activity, metabolic cost, crutch force, torso sway, and more.
“One area that we very much want to explore is how an exoskeleton like Quix could be useful in rehabilitation therapy,” Griffin said.

Eva exoskeleton moving forward

Improving quality of life for a specific group of workers is the drive behind the Eva exoskeleton project as well.

Eva is a powered lower-body exoskeleton that is being developed to offload the weight of heavy personal- protective equipment from users’ bodies to the ground while also augmenting user motion. The suit is designed to assist throughout the users’ natural range of motion so as to not restrict movements and postures common.

The Eva project is a collaboration to create a testbed to evaluate the efficiency of existing devices and the effectiveness of modifications to other commercial devices.

The Eva suit provides net positive power to hip and knee flexion/extension as well as ankle plantarflexion while passively allowing motion in other degrees of freedom of the hips. The hips and knees are driven by collocated brushless DC motor actuators, while the ankles are driven by cables attached to actuators located in the backpack. The exoskeleton is built around a common harness used for 60-minute SCBA tanks, and the tank can be removed and attached easily. Eva is also designed to be modular, so that the linkages connecting each of the joints can be swapped to fit different users.

IHMC has begun testing the current hardware and control algorithms to explore how Eva can be used to decrease this musculoskeletal load, by measuring muscle activation during activities.

By coupling this with experimentation performed by Georgia Tech on human biomechanics when performing manual labor, the team believes Eva can be a device that genuinely helps during heavy-duty physical tasks.

The focus to this point has been on developing a device that is transparent to the user so as to not limit the user’s motions and capabilities when performing meaningful work. This is an area that has been traditionally unaddressed by existing exoskeletons, Griffin said, which have suffered from limited adoption.

The team is continuously iterating on the device through improvements to exoskeleton weight, development of custom actuators, and implementation of custom electronics.

STEM-Talk: “Ask Me Anything” episode tackles AI, hypersonics, fasting and more

It’s time for another Ask Me Anything episode where STEM-Talk cohost Dawn Kernagis asks Ken questions submitted by listeners.

In this episode, available wherever you listen to podcasts, Ken and Dawn weigh in on:

—  Whether AI is becoming sentient.

— How women in midlife might protect their bodies from the negative effects of a slowing metabolism.

— A Stanford study that compared a low-carbohydrate diet with a Mediterranean diet.

— Whether fasting helps optimize cognitive performance.

— The future of hypersonic technology.

— And a lot more.

If you have a question after listening to today’s episode or any episode of STEM-Talk, email your question to STEM-Talk Producer Randy Hammer at rhammer@ihmc.org.

STEM-Talk is the podcast of IHMC, a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System. Researchers at IHMC pioneer science and technologies aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. For more information, visit ihmc.us. 

IHMC launches multi-year project augmenting, assessing performance in extreme environments

Recently, IHMC kicked off a multi-year project sponsored by Air Force Research Laboratory’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate (AFRL/RX) with participants from AFRL’s 711th Human Performance Wing, Airman Systems Directorate (RH).  

The program “Augmenting and Assessing Performance in Extreme Environments” (A2PEX) aims for real-time sensing via wearable sensors, and assessment and augmentation of cognitive performance in missions conducted in extreme environments.   

The goal is to develop a robust wearable system that helps overcome fatigue and other stressors by continually sensing, assessing, and augmenting Airmen and Guardian performance.     

Principal Investigators are IHMC’s own Dr. Morley Stone and Dr. Tim Broderick. It draws on team members from our human performance, robotics, and human-centered computing teams — a truly cross disciplinary collaboration. 

Academic partners in the project are The Ohio State University and Georgia Institute of Technology. Industry partners are Triple Ring Technologies, Abbott Biowearables, electroCore, and Polar Electro.  

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.