Center for Limb Loss and MoBility

Patrick Aubin, Ph.D.

Education

Postdoctoral Fellow, 2012 – 2013
Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Ph.D. Electrical Engineering, Robotics and Controls, 2010
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
M.S. Electrical Engineering, Robotics and Controls, 2006
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
B.S. Electrical Engineering, 2004
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

Research Interests

Dr. Aubin’s research spans robotics and biomechanics with applications in medicine and rehabilitation. His approach is to study human subjects and develop cadaveric models to understand the ingenious neurological, sensorimotor, and musculoskeletal systems of the human body. He then utilizes this knowledge to develop biomechatronic technologies that augment human performance and/or improve mobility and function for those affected by disease, age or trauma. Dr. Aubin has over seven years of experience studying gait biomechanics. As a Ph.D. student, he developed a robotic cadaveric gait simulator and used it to study foot and ankle surgical interventions and disease etiologies. After completing his Ph.D. studies, he was awarded a Fulbright Grant and a Whitaker International Fellowship which allowed him to lead a team of doctors and engineers to develop a novel Parkinson’s disease monitoring and diagnostic system based on wearable inertial measurement units. He then completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard University within the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. Within the Institute, he was a member of the Bioinspired Robotics Platform, where he developed and validated the performance of a robotic soft exosuit which assists people during walking. At Harvard, he also worked within the Anticipatory Medical and Cellular Devices Platform to develop a two-degrees-of-freedom thumb exoskeleton for at-home rehabilitation for children with cerebral palsy. Dr. Aubin’s broader research goal is to work in multidisciplinary teams to study human movement and develop technological tools that facilitate improved health and mobility.

Publications

Journal Articles
Aubin, P.M., Petersen, K, Sallum, H., Walsh, C., Correia, A., and Stirling, L. “A Pediatric Robotic Thumb Exoskeleton for at-Home Rehabilitation: The Isolated Orthosis for Thumb Actuation (IOTA)”, International Journal of Intelligent Computing and Cybernetics, submitted, 2013.

Menguc, Y, Park, Y.L., Pei, H., Aubin, P.M., Winchell, E., Fluke, L., Stirling, L., Wood, R.J. and Walsh, C.J. “Soft Sensor Suit for Wearable Leg Motion Tracking”, The International Journal of Robotics Research, submitted, 2013.

Aubin, P.M., Whittaker, E., and Ledoux, W.R. "A Robotic Cadaveric Gait Simulator with Fuzzy Logic Vertical Ground Reaction Force Control", IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 28(1): 246-255, 2012.

Whittaker, E., Aubin, P.M., and Ledoux, W.R. "Foot Bone Kinematics As Measured In A Cadaveric Robotic Gait Simulator", Gait & Posture, 33: 645–650, 2011.

Jackson, L.T., Aubin, P.M., Cowley, M.S., Sangeorzan, B.J., and Ledoux, W.R. "A Robotic Cadaveric Static Flatfoot Simulation of Stance Phase", Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, 133(5): 051005, 2011.

Weber, J.R., Aubin, P.M., Sangeorzan, B.J., and Ledoux, W.R. "Crossover Toe Deformity of the Second Metatarsophalangeal Joint: A Robotic Cadaveric Study of Plantar Pressure and Metatarsophalangeal Joint Angle", Foot & Ankle International, 33(4): 312-9, 2012.

Bayomy, A.F., Aubin, P.M., Sangeorzan, B.J., and Ledoux, W.R. "Arthrodesis of the First Metatarsophalangeal Joint: A Robotic Cadaveric Study of Dorsiflexion Angle", Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery Am., 92(8): 1754-64, 2010.

Aubin, P.M., Cowley, M., and Ledoux, W.R. "Gait Simulation via a 6-DOF Robot with Iterative Learning Control", IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 55(3): 1237-40, 2008.

Conference Proceedings (full articles)
Aubin, P.M., Sallum, H., Correia, A., Walsh, C., and Stirling, L. “A Pediatric Robotic Thumb Exoskeleton for at-Home Rehabilitation: The Isolated Orthosis for Thumb Actuation (IOTA)”, International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, Seattle, WA, USA: 2013.

Wehner, M., Quinlivan, B., Aubin, P.M., Martinez-Villalpando, E., Bauman, M., Stirling, L., Holt, K., Wood, R., and Walsh, C. “Design and Evaluation of a Lightweight Soft Exosuit for Gait Assistance”, The IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Karlsruhe, Germany: 2013.

Aubin, P.M., Serackis, A., and Griskevicius, J. “Support Vector Machine Classification of Parkinson's Disease, Essential Tremor and Healthy Control Subjects Based on Upper Extremity Motion”, International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology (iCBEB), Macau, China: 2012.

Öpik, R, Hunt, A, Aubin, P.M. and Kruusmaa, M. “Development of High Fidelity Liver and Kidney Phantom Organs for Use with Robotic Surgical Systems”, IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, Roma, Italy: 2012.

Aubin, P.M., Whittaker, E., and Ledoux, W.R. “Foot Bone Kinematics at Half and Three Quarters Body Weight: A Robotic Cadaveric Simulation of Stance Phase”, The 15th International Conference on Advanced Robotics, Tallinn, Estonia: 2011.

Aubin, P.M. and Ledoux, W.R. "Cadaveric Robotic Gait Simulation with Tendon Force Control: A Tool for Biomechanics Research", International Conference on Applied Bionics and Biomechanics, Venice, Italy: 2010.