Amin Zeiaee

               e-mail: amin.zeiaee@tamu.edu

Education:

Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, Dec. 2019
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Central Florida, Dec. 2013
B.S., Electrical Engineering, University of Tabriz, Sept. 2010

Research Interests:

Rehabilitation Robotics, Surgical Robots, Neuro-Mechanics of Human Locomotion, Mobile Robots, Non-linear Control Systems, Mechanical Design, Design Optimization

Research Summary:

Motor disabilities caused by neurological disorders such as stroke are a prevailing health issue in modern societies. To expedite the rehabilitation of patients with such disabilities, the scientific community has been exploring the possibility of utilizing technologically advanced methods to enhance the neuroplasticity of the brain after injury. Robotic systems have been the cornerstone of a category of such efforts, focused on increasing the intensity and diversifying the sensory feedback experienced by the patient. In particular, exoskeletons are found to be very promising for assistive and therapeutic applications due to their ability in producing controlled torque in individual joints of the paretic limb. Despite the continuous efforts of the research community, there are still major issues for large-scale adoption of exoskeleton-based rehabilitation in clinical settings.

My work is focused on proposing solutions to some of the short-comings of available upper-limb rehabilitation exoskeletons, both in design level and control algorithm development. The focus of the design efforts outlined in my work is optimization and electro-mechanical embodiment of a kinematic structure, developed in our research group. Two upper-limb exoskeletons, CLEVERarm, and CURE are developed based on the same kinematic architecture, but with different design philosophies. While compactness and reduction of weight are the main design criteria of CLEVERarm, the design of CURE is focused on achieving high mechanical compliance.
In addition to the innovative designs, the development of therapeutic control strategies tailored for rehabilitation applications is the second major contribution of my research work. The novel control strategy I have proposed is aimed at achieving arm posture control, without imposing explicit timing laws. The proposed method uses the nonlinear control framework to robustly correct the posture of the arm during a motion. The proposed controller was implemented on CLEVERarm and tested on healthy subjects. The results of the experiments confirmed the expected functionality of the controller.

 

Publications:
  1. R. Soltani- Zarrin, A. Zeiaee, A. Eib, R. Langari, “CLEVERarm: A Novel Light-weight Upper-limb Exoskeleton for Home-based Rehabilitation”, (under review).
  2. R. Soltani- Zarrin, A. Zeiaee, R. Langari, “Human-like Path Generation in Upper-limb Exoskeletons”, (under review).
  3. A. Zeiaee, R. Langari, “Time-independent Control of Upper-limb Rehabilitation Exoskeletons”, (under review).
  4. A. Zeiaee, R. Soltani-Zarrin, R. Langari, & R. Tafreshi, “Kinematic Design Optimization of an Eight Degree-of-Freedom Upper-Limb Exoskeleton”. Robotica, 1-14, 2019.
  5. A. Zeiaee, R. Soltani-Zarrin, R. Langari, R. Tafreshi, “Design and kinematic analysis of a novel upper limb exoskeleton for rehabilitation of stroke patients” , Proceedings of IEEE 15th International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, London, 2017.
  6. R. Soltani-Zarrin, A. Zeiaee, A. Eib, R. Langari, N. Robson and R. Tafreshi, “TAMU CLEVERarm: A novel exoskeleton for rehabilitation of upper limb impairments”, IEEE proceedings of 2017 International Symposium on Wearable & Rehabilitations Robotics (WeRob), Houston, 2017. 10.1109/WEROB.2017.8383844
  7. R. Soltani-Zarrin, A. Zeiaee, R. Langari, N. Robson, “Reference Path Generation for Upper-Arm Exoskeletons Considering Scapulohumeral Rhythms”, Proceedings of 2017 IEEE 15th International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, London.
  8. R. Soltani-Zarrin, A. Zeiaee, R. Langari, and R. Tafreshi, “A Computational Approach for Human-like Motion Generation in Upper Limb Exoskeletons Supporting Scapulohumeral Rhythms”, IEEE proceedings of 2017 International Symposium on Wearable & Rehabilitation Robotics (WeRob), Houston, 2017.
  9. R. Soltani-Zarrin, A. Zeiaee, R. Langari, and R. Malak, “A Systematic Approach for Kinematic Design of Upper Limb Rehabilitation Exoskeletons”, submitted to journal of medical devices, preprint in arXiv Robotics: 1712.02325, 2017.
  10. R. Soltani-Zarrin, A. Zeiaee, and R. Langari, “Challenges and Opportunities in Exoskeleton-Based Rehabilitation”, in submission to Journal of Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation, preprint in arXiv Robotics: 1711.09523, 2017.
  11. A. Zeiaee, R. Soltani-Zarrin, Fernando A. C. C. Fontes, R. Langari, “Constrained Directions Method for Stabilization of Mobile Robots with Input and State Constraints”, 2017 American Control Conference, Seattle.
  12. R. Soltani-Zarrin, A. Zeiaee, R. Langari, “Moving exoskeletons from sci-fi into medical rehabilitation and therapy”, The Conversation, July 2016.
  13. A. Zeiaee, R. Soltani-Zarrin, R. Langari, “Novel Approach for Tracking Control of Differential Drive Robots Subject to Hard Input Constraints”, 2016 American Control Conference, Boston.
  14. A. Zeiaee, R. Soltani-Zarrin, S. Jayasuriya, R. Langari, “A Uniform control for tracking and point stabilization of differential drive robots subject to hard input constraints”, 2015 Dynamic Systems and Control Conference, Columbus.
  15. R. Soltani-Zarrin, A. Zeiaee, S. Jayasuriya, “Pointwise Angle Minimization for Guiding Wheeled Robots”, Proceedings of ASME 2014 Dynamic Systems and Control Conference, San Antonio.
  16. Kharrati, A. Zeiaee, S. Khanmohammadi, A. Navarbaf, G. Alizadeh, “Design of Optimized Fuzzy Model-Based Controller for Nonlinear Systems Using Hybrid Intelligent Strategies”, Journal of Systems and Control Engineering, Proc. IMechE Part 1, Sage publication, 2012.
  17. A. Zeiaee, H. Kharrati, S. Khanmohammadi, “Optimized Fuzzy PDC Controller for Nonlinear Systems with T-S Model Mismatch”, Proceeding of IEEE International Conference on Advanced Mechatronic Systems, 2011, Zhengzhou, China.
  18. M. Farrokhifar, A. Zeiaee, R. Esmaeilzadeh, “Consideration of Asymmetrical Switching Overvoltage on Sub-transmission Transformers”, Proceeding of 7th International Conference on Technical and Physical Problems in Electrical Engineering, 2011, Cyprus

 

Awards

Leon Bailey Trust Scholarship, TAMU, 2018.
Emil Buehler Aerodynamic Analog Fellowship, Department of Mechanical Engineering, TAMU, Sept. 2017
Societal/Technical Research Impact Award, National Academy of Engineering, 2017 Global Grand Challenges Summit, Jul. 2017
Frank Hubbard Scholarship, academic excellence, University of Central Florida, Aug. 2013
Dean’s Award, University of Tabriz, Oct. 2009
Exceptional Talents Scholarship, University of Tabriz, Sep. 2006

 

Professional Activities:

Technical Program Committee, ASME 2014 Dynamic Systems and Control Conference
Reviewer, 2017 IEEE-RAS-EMBS International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics
Reviewer, 2017 IEEE American Control Conference
Reviewer, European Journal of Control
Reviewer, IEEE Transaction on Biomedical Engineering
Reviewer, Journal of Recent Patents in Mechanical Engineering
Reviewer, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference (2016)
Reviewer, Dynamic Systems and Control Conference (2014-2015) Judge, 2015 Engineering Summer Undergrad Research Symposium