Rehabilitation Robotics and Assistive Technology Experiences for Engineering Technology Students

The Engineering Technology Department at the College of Engineering at Cal Poly Pomona (CPP) offers degrees in two areas: Electronics/Computer Engineering, and Mechanical/Manufacturing Engineering technology.Engineering technology education is enhanced through the students' exposure to inter-disciplinary concepts that help them to generate better solutions to problems while facilitating communication with different specialists in a team.As one of the leading colleges of engineering, our mission is to link theory and practice via our learning-by-doing philosophy.To be in alignment with this mission, students in both areas of engineering technology can take a technical elective course in robotics and applications during their senior year.In this course, they learn the basic principles of the science of manipulation along with basic control of robotic manipulators.In the laboratory portion of the course, they work in interdisciplinary teams and build a robotic manipulator with the interface to teleoperate it by using a haptic device.They apply the system for specific tasks of activities of daily living (such as lifting an object and moving it to another place etc..).In addition, those students who have an interest in biomedical applications can take independent study credits to work on extensive research/literature review of state-of-the-art technology and develop prototypes of assistive technology and rehabilitation aid devices.