Human Physiology (MFYS)

At a glance:

• Faculty: Physical Education & Physical Therapy
• 31 researchers
• Main areas of expertise:
  • Assessment of cortical activity during robot-assisted walking
  • Cognition and electro-cortical processes in the brain
  • Brain measurements during human movement
  • Mental and physical fatigue
  • Energy expenditure studies

Excercise and the brain in health & disease: the added-value of Human Robotics.

www.blits.org

Exercise and the Brain in Health & Disease

The research in the dept. of Human Physiology (MFYS) is focused on ‘Exercise and the Brain in Health & Disease’ where  the interaction of exercise on neurochemistry and neurophysiology is explored. The research is concentrated at 3 different levels:

• Fundamental – Physiological research
• Applied – Clinical research
• Benchmarking – Policy making research

The fundamental research includes work:

• on the limits of mental and physical fatigue,
• on (psycho)physiological mechanisms of fatigue and thermoregulation,
• on the positive effects of exercise and (gait) rehabilitation on neurogenesis,
• on cognition and electrocortical processes in the brain,
• on energy expenditure,
• and on the application of recovery interventions in athletes.

The Applied – Clinical aims at examining the value of the study findings of the fundamental research at the applied/clinical level. MFYS performs multiple clinical research on this domain and it is focused on studying effects of exercise and training on cognition and the brain in different (patient) populations.

Exercise and the Brain in Health & Disease: The Added Value of Human-Centered Robotics

One of the current bottlenecks in the field of robotics with the aim of assisting human movement is the effectiveness of exoskeletal devices. The department MFYS is specialized in the assessment of psycho-physiological measurements during rest and movement, which can help to determine the effectiveness of robot-assisted human movement. In the past, this resulted in pioneering work regarding brain images during robot-assisted walking. Recently, research of the department focussed on measuring brain electrocortical activity using electro-encephalography (EEG). This is relevant to the field of robotics, since one of the main goals is to enable the control of robotic parts with brain-computer interfaces (using EEG).

State-of-the-art infrastructure

With climate and altitude chambers and cognitive rooms, MFYS disposes of top notch infrastructure. Using this infrastructure, the department provides scientific support to professional cyclists.

Some projects in which MFYS is involved

AltaCro: Rehabilitation exoskeleton

ALTACRO rehabiliation exoskeleton: Automated Locomotion Training using an Actuated Compliant Robotic Orthosis

Cyberlegs: lower-limb prosthesis

EU FP7 project Cyberlegs: Cybernetic Lower-Limb cognitive Ortho-Prosthesis. Image: (c) Massimo Brega

MIRAD: a lower limb assistive exoskeleton

IWT SBO MIRAD: an integrated Methodology to bring Intelligent Robotic Assistive Devices to the user, with a lower-limb exoskeleton as demonstrator.

Exskallerate: Boosting SME adoption of exoskeletons

INTERREG EXSKALLERATE: Boosting SME adoption of exoskeletons in construction and manufacturing industries

SOPHIA: deploying robots for improved ergonomy

EU H2020 SOPHIA: Three BruBotics research groups joining forces to improve our work