Momentum - The Magazine for Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering Vol. 3 No. 2 Summer 2018 | Page 17

assistant professor in the Grado Department
of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and
Kim Niewolny, associate professor in agricul-
tural, leadership, and community education in
the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences,
on both grants.
Partnership for Innovation grant
Working with industry partners, such as
TORC Robotics, Leonessa and researchers
will use robotics systems they develop to
generate additional discoveries as they learn
from farmers who partner with the program.
Working with AgrAbility Virginia and its
statewide rural rehabilitation network and
using human-centered design approaches, the
project team will address the human factors
component of the technology and the need to
educate farmers to its benefits and capabilities.
The team will evaluate the farmers’ daily
activity and the issues they encounter. The
human-factors and agriculture experts on the
team will work with farmers to provide inputs
to the design processes.
“The types of robotics we’re looking at are
things we have already developed, but need to
be modified to the individual and adapted to
the particular function,” explained Leonessa.
“We are working with Total Motion Physical
Therapy to provide baseline information on
farmers who volunteer with the program.
Then we work to personalize the robotics suit
specific to the individual farmer’s needs.”
The work will initially focus on mobility
impairments associated with an aging demo-
graphic such as arthritic hands and knees, but
also devices to assist with lifting.
Physical therapists will first evaluate farm-
ers and provide ability impairment data so
researchers can build individualized devices.
Farmers will then take the devices back to the
physical therapy team to test that the technol
Alan Asbeck, assistant profes-
sor of mechanical engineering,
talks with farmers who will be
involved in the research.
MOMENTUM
SUMMER 2018
PAGE 17