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The Rehabilitation Robotics Lab at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine is led by its director, Dr. Michelle J. Johnson. All research and development is performed under her supervision and direction, and is sponsored by the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. The lab’s mission and focus is to use rehabilitation robotics and neuroscience to investigate brain plasticity and motor function after non-traumatic brain injuries, for example in stroke survivors or persons diagnosed with cerebral palsy. By examining the underlying causes of limb impairment after neural disease, injury, or cerebral accident, the lab works to discover effective methods to expedite a robust functional recovery. Translating research findings into the development of extremely affordable therapeutic robots that are able to provide effective neurorehabilitation – both on the national and global level – is the ultimate goal of the Rehabilitation Robotics Lab.
Lab Highlights
Global Perspectives on Medicine, Rehabilitation and Robotics Webinar Series
Join us for the ongoing webinar series, Global Perspectives on Medicine, Rehabilitation and Robotics, sponsored by the Center for Global Health and Elsevier in collaboration with Penn CFAR and our international colleagues at the University of Botswana and Botswana-UPenn Partnership.
Email Dr. Michelle Johnson with questions or speaker suggestions. johnsonmic@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
To stay up to date with the seminars, follow our LinkedIn group.
Register here
For videos of our older seminars, see this Youtube playlist.
Highlighted Publications
- Ad Adams, E., Riener, R., Mohamed, B., Gunther, I., OLAOGUN, M. O., Komolafe, M. A., ... & Johnson, M. J. (2025). Pragmatic Recommendations to Improve Access to Rehabilitation Robots, Assistive Technologies and Neurorehabilitation Services in Africa: Proceedings from ICORR-SASNET Ghana Neurorehabilitation workshop, 2024. Frontiers in Stroke, 4, 1565651.
- Sobrepera, M. J., Nguyen, A. T., Anand, A., Prosser, L. A., Evans, S. H., & Johnson, M. J. (2025). Age, Motor Function, and Cognitive Function Influence Preferences for Telerehabilitation Mediated by a Social Robot Augmented With Telepresence. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, (99), 1-1.
- Nguyen, A. T., Anand, A., & Johnson, M. J. (2024, September). Exploring EEG Responses During Observation of Actions Performed by Human Actor and Humanoid Robot. In 2024 10th IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference for Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob) (pp. 1795-1801). IEEE.
- Waters, E. L., Mendonca, R. J., Cacchione, P. Z., & Johnson, M. J. (2024, September). TheraDyad: Feasibility of an affordable robot for multi-user stroke rehabilitation. In 2024 10th IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference for Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob) (pp. 1498-1503). IEEE.
- Sowande, O. F., Koyner, D., Prosser, L., & Johnson, M. J. (2024, August). Design of a Robotic Infant Simulator to Understand the Role of the Trunk in Infant Postural Stability and Center of Pressure. In 2024 33rd IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (ROMAN) (pp. 1005-1012). IEEE.
- Azar, R. M., Sobotka N.S., Cacchione, P., Mendonca, R.J., and Johnson, M.J. (2025). Evaluating the Relationship Between Motor and Cognitive Impairment and Lesion Size and Location Post-Stroke Using CT Scans. In 2025 International Conference On Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR) (pp. 1467-1472). IEEE.
- Johnson, M. J., & Mendonca, R. J. (Eds.). (2023). Rehabilitation robots for neurorehabilitation in high-, low-, and middle-income countries: Current practice, barriers, and future directions (1st ed.). Elsevier. Check out the book on Amazon.