Description of Research Expertise
My research is mainly in the area of robot-mediated rehabilitation. I am focused on the investigation and rehabilitation of dysfunction due to aging, neural disease, and neural injury. I am particularly interested in 1) exploring the relationships between brain plasticity and behavioral/motor control changes after robot-assisted interventions; 2)quantifying motor impairment and motor control of the upper limb in real world tasks such as drinking; and 3) defining the methods to maintain therapeutic effectiveness while administering local and remote, robot-mediated interventions.
I direct the Rehabilitation Robotics Lab. This is a new Lab within the Department of Physical, Medicine, and Rehabilitation in the Perelman School of Medicine. The Rehabilitation Robotics Lab mission is to use robotics,rehabilitation,and neuroscience techniques to translate research findings into the development of assistive and therapeutic rehabilitation robots capable of functioning in real-world rehabilitation environments. Our goal is to improve the quality of life and function on activities of daily living (ADLs) of our target population in supervised or under-supervised settings.
Keywords (in alphabetical order): Brain Plasticity, Design, Controls, Motor Control, Robotics, Rehabilitation, Stroke, Therapy, Upper Limb
Selected Publications
Johnson MJ, Mendonca R: Chapter 17: Rehabilitation Robotics In Rehabilitation Engineering: Principles and Practice : 2022.
Panchal J, Sowande OF, Prosser L, Johnson MJ: Design of pediatric robot to simulate infant biomechanics for neuro-developmental assessment in a sensorized gym 9th IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference for Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob), Korea : 2022.
Sobrepera MJ, Lee VG, Johnson MJ: Therapists' Opinions on Telehealth, Robotics, and Socially Assistive Robot-Augmented Telepresence Systems for Rehabilitation 9th IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference for Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob), Korea : 2022.
Bui KD, Lyn B, Roland M, Wamsley CA, Mendonca R, Johnson MJ: The Impact of Cognitive Impairment on Robot-Based Upper-Limb Motor Assessment in Chronic Stroke Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair
36 (9): 587-595,2022.
Johnson MJ, Mohan M, and Mendonca R: Therapist-Patient Interactions in Task-Oriented Stroke Therapy can Guide Robot-Patient Interactions. Int J of Soc Robotics : 2022.
Prosser, LA, Aguirre, MO, Zhao, S., Bogen, DK, Pierce, SR, Nilan, KA, Zhang, H, Shofer, FS, Johnson, MJ: Infants at risk for physical disability may be identified by measures of postural control in supine
Pediatric Research
91 (5): 1215-1221,2022.
Mucchiani, C, Cacchione, P, Johnson, MJ, Mead, R, Yim, M: Deployment of a Socially Assistive Robot for Assessment of COVID-19 Symptoms and Exposure at an Elder Care Setting
30th IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)
: 1189-1195,2021 .
Hu, S, Mendonca, R, Johnson, MJ, Kuchenbecker, KJ: Robotics for Occupational Therapy: Learning Upper-Limb Exercises From Demonstrations IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
6 (4): 7781-7788,2021.
Espinoza Bernal, Victor C; Hiremath, Shivayogi V; Wolf, Bethany; Riley, Brooke; Mendonca, Rochelle J; Johnson, Michelle J;: Classifying and tracking rehabilitation interventions through machine-learning algorithms in individuals with stroke
Journal of Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies Engineering
8 : 2021.
Stewart-Height, A, Koditschek, DE, Johnson, MJ: Reimagining robotic walkers for real-world outdoor play environments with insights from legged robots: a scoping review Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology
: 1-21,2021.
View all publications
Academic Contact Information
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
1800 Lombard Street, 1st Floor, Office 9
Philadelphia,
PA
19146
Phone: 215-893-2665