Resources
This is a mishmash of resources that I’ve found helpful and interesting over the last several years. The technical topics are typically spanning my own research/interests – centered around wearable robotics, spanning fields such as human physiology, biomechanics, robotics, and artificial intelligence. I’ve also thrown in some resources that I’ve found helpful in academia, communication, mentoring, and searching for jobs/opportunities in related fields.
I’m planning to update these lists occasionally, this was last updated on October 15, 2023
Research & Technical
MATH & STATISTICS
Power and Effect Size – topic overview on the blog of Dr. Alexander P. Damos
An Introduction to Hierarchical Modeling – great resource with helpful visuals from UW Prof. Michael Freeman
3Blue1Brown YouTube Channel – various math concepts with excellent visualization and examples
Biomedical Statistics – Joshua Cashaback’s course slides for Advanced Biomedical Experimental Design & Analysis
Nathan Kutz YouTube Channel – lecture videos on applied/computational math, controls, dynamics, and other good stuff
Linear Algebra for Engineers course – Cornell University (taught by Andy Ruina)
A brief introduction to mixed effects modelling and multi-model inference in ecology – Overview of linear mixed models for biological data
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Brian Douglas YouTube Channel – various controls lectures, specifically in classical control theory
Applied Optimal Control course – Florida State University (taught by Christian Hubicki)
Modern Robotics course – Northwestern University (taught by Kevin Lynch)
Mechanical Systems Design course – Stanford University (taught by Steve Collins)
Maxon Academy – various videos on motors, motion control, thermal behavior, and more
Dynamics course – Cornell University (taught by Andy Ruina)
Statics & Mechanics of Solids – Cornell University (taught by Andy Ruina)
Introduction to Mechanical Engineering – Cornell University (taught by Andy Ruina)
Various robotics courses – University of Michigan Robotics, several courses that cover many fundamental robotics concepts
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & MACHINE LEARNING
Artificial Intelligence course – Georgia Institute of Technology (taught by Dr. Thad Starner), excellent course that I took as part of my graduate work
Neural Networks – YouTube playlist from 3Blue1Brown
ML Bootcamp – key topic summaries from Dr. Matthew Gombolay at Georgia Tech
Steve Brunton YouTube Channel – great videos on machine learning related topics (also some Mechanical Engineering topics as well)
Reinforcement Learning course – Dimitri Bertsekas’s course at ASU
Ferenc Huszár’s Blog – various blog posts on machine learning and statistics
StatQuest – a YouTube channel with, amongst other things, great videos on machine learning models
Introduction to Machine Learning course – notes from the course at University of Wisconsin-Madison
Introduction to Machine Learning course – another set of course notes from the University of Washington
Machine Learning for Intelligent Systems course – course notes and recorded lectures from Cornell University
Weights & Biases – free online optimizer for machine learning hyperparameters with great visualizations
BIOMECHANICS
Biomechanics of Movement course – lectures from Drs. Scott Delp and Thomas Uchida
OPEN-SOURCE DATA SETS & MODELS
A kinematic and kinetic dataset of 18 above-knee amputees walking at various speeds – from Utah’s Bionic Engineering Lab
A comprehensive, open-source dataset of lower limb biomechanics in multiple conditions and of stairs, ramps, and level-ground ambulation and transitions – from Georgia Tech’s EPIC Lab
Running data across running speeds – from the Federal University of ABC in Brazil
Predicting energy cost from wearable sensors: A dataset of energetic and physiological wearable sensor data from healthy individuals performing multiple physical activities – from collaborating labs at the University of Michigan
ExoNet Database: Wearable Camera Images of Human Locomotion Environments – from the University of Waterloo
Lower-limb kinematics and kinetics during continuously varying human locomotion – from collaborating labs at the University of Michigan and the University of Texas
OPEN-SOURCE BUILDS
Bump’em Perturbation System – from Stanford’s Biomechatronics Lab
Open Source Leg – transfemoral robotic prosthesis from Michigan’s Neurobionics Lab
Body Weight Support System for Overground Walking – from Florida’s Human Neuromechanics Lab
Open Leg Bionics – robotic knee prosthesis from Utah’s Bionic Engineering Lab
RESEARCH TALKS
My Personal YouTube Playlist – a mishmash of some great research talks spanning biomechanics and robotics
Center for Bionics and Pain Research (CBPR) Inaugural Symposium – various talks from the conference on their website
American Society of Biomechanics Conference Talks – various talks recorded during the ASB virtual meetings in 2020 and 2021
Dynamic Walking 2022 Conference Talks – various talks from the 2022 meeting in Madison, WI
Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance YouTube channel – keynotes, lightning talks, and panels discussing human health and performance
DATA COLLECTION
SENIAM – guide for EMG electrode placement
The ABC of EMG – an intro to electromyography, spanning muscle excitation to experimental data processing
DATA PROCESSING
MoCapTools – array of tools for processing motion capture data and OpenSim processing directly from Matlab
Biomechanics ToolKit (BTK) – tools for interfacing with motion capture and force plate files in Matlab
CODING
Version control for researchers – GitHub tutorial led by Ryan Alcantara, Gary Bruening, and Ross Wilkinson at ASB2020
OTHER HELPFUL TOOLS
Graph Grabber – ever need to digitize data from an existing graph? This lets you scan or manually trace a graph and generates the data points to allow for plotting in your software of choice.
OPINIONS & PERSONAL INSIGHTS
Our child’s TBI: a rehabilitation engineer’s personal experience, technological approach, and lessons learned – insight into pediatric rehabilitation from Dr. James Sulzer and Dr. Lindsay S. Karfeld-Sulzer