Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) on Personalized AI for Limb Difference (PAL) - People with limb differences rely on assistive and rehabilitation technologies that often cannot adapt to their changing abilities, goals, and daily environments. The University of Central Florida (UCF) Disability, Aging, and Technology (DAT) Cluster, in partnership with Limbitless Solutions, will address this challenge through the proposed Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) on Personalized AI for Limb Difference (PAL). PAL will develop artificial intelligence (AI)-driven technologies that continuously learn from and adapt to each individual, providing personalized assessment, rehabilitation, and assistive technologies across the lifespan. PAL envisions a future in which AI-driven technologies provide seamless, intuitive, and personalized assistance that enhances mobility, upper-limb function, lifelong health, and participation for individuals with limb differences. PAL brings together engineers, clinicians, rehabilitation scientists, AI researchers, industry partners, and individuals with limb differences to accelerate innovation and translation. Its research and development activities span the continuum of care, from assessment to rehabilitation to assistive technologies. By integrating multimodal sensing, adaptive AI, and human-centered design, PAL will develop technologies that improve mobility, upper-limb function, health, independence, and community participation. The Center is built around a personalized AI pipeline in which wearable multimodal sensing captures an individual’s neuromuscular, biomechanical, behavioral, and environmental data to assess function, learn personalized models, provide adaptive assistance, optimize rehabilitation, and support lifelong participation. A key innovation is our MOSAIC (Multimodal On-body Sensing And Integrated Connectivity) wearable sensing suite with surface electromyography (sEMG), inertial measurement units (IMU), ultrasound, Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity, and capacitive sensing to create robust sensor-fusion AI models that overcome the limitations of conventional single sensor systems. PAL’s research projects will investigate R1) AI-enabled multimodal sensor fusion for reliable prosthetic control (upper-limb assistive technology) and R2) AI-driven assessment of neuromuscular coordination with personalized biofeedback (lower-limb rehabilitation technology). Development projects will create D1) adaptive game-based rehabilitation systems that personalize training to individual performance (upper-limb rehabilitation technology) and D2) deep learning approaches that incorporate intact-limb biomechanics to improve user-specific prosthesis control (lower-limb assistive technology). Together, these projects (2 assistive, 2 rehabilitation; 2 upper limb related to reaching/grasping, 2 lower limb related to mobility) will advance personalized AI from concept to clinically meaningful technologies that improve function, independence, and quality of life. Beyond research and development, PAL will accelerate technology adoption through training, dissemination, technology transfer, and stakeholder engagement. The Center will establish the accessible “I AM A PAL” digital community of people affected by limb difference to share stories, educational resources, and emerging AI-enabled technologies, while Pop-Up PAL Science Cafés will engage individuals with limb differences, families, clinicians, researchers, industry, and community organizations in codesign and knowledge exchange. Universal design principles and a Lean Startup stakeholder-engagement framework will ensure technologies address real-world needs and are accessible, usable, and scalable. Over its five-year period, PAL will generate AI-enabled assessment, rehabilitation, and assistive technologies; prepare researchers, clinicians, and engineers through accessible training; accelerate technology translation; and improve the health, independence, and community participation of people with limb differences.
