Jackson Truitt started his research early and organically.
Now a Ph.D. student working on building a robotic arm to help children with cerebral palsy be more independent, his passion for the work started when he was growing up. His brother had muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy, so Truitt saw firsthand how people’s lives were affected and the challenges they faced with these conditions.
When it came time to pick a career, designing mobility devices for people with movement-based disorders was an easy choice.
“My experience growing up with my brother and caring for children with neuromuscular disorders fostered a deep love of serving and working with children with these conditions,” Truitt said.
He was one of five NAU students selected this year for the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program, which provides research funding for three years. It’s a highly sought after award that gives students greater autonomy in their research and is allowing Truitt to take his upper mobility device—it’s not actually an arm; it supports the wearer’s arm—to the development and testing phase.
“Jackson is a remarkably talented and creative robotics engineer with a deep motivation for designing solutions to assist people with disabilities,” said Zach Lerner, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and director of the Biomechantronics Lab at NAU. “We are absolutely thrilled to have someone of his caliber in our lab.”
Truitt’s research
In his first year in the Biomechatronics Lab, Truitt worked on an exoskeleton development and design project, primarily a novel hip exoskeleton. With GRFP funding, he can shift to his own project: a mobile robotic device that children with CP wear that will help them develop better range of motion, move their arms more naturally and become more independent.
The mobility device, which Truitt wants to be able to predict a user’s movement as well as support those movements, will allow users to move their arm up and down and side to side more quickly and naturally, which is important for daily tasks like eating, getting dressed and reaching for objects. It also will compensate for the effects of gravity to reduce fatigue as the user moves. And it will be wearable, meaning small and agile enough that a child can wear it while moving around.
“The participant will train the device with these tasks, then repeat to determine if the device can correctly predict the user’s intention and assist in their desired movements,” Truitt said. “The overall goal is to develop and validate a novel upper extremity robotic arm device to aid children with cerebral palsy and expand the understanding of how these devices can improve and promote independence in children with these conditions.”
His background
Truitt came to NAU with the goal of helping children. While earning a bachelor’s degree at Wichita State University, Truitt led eight interdisciplinary teams in the Go Baby Go program, which builds custom ride-on electric cars for children with movement disorders. He also earned a certificate in assistive technology and accessible design.
Additionally, Truitt worked with a WSU professor to develop an augmentative and alternative communication device to help children with cerebral palsy communicate with their families and peers. And, outside of the classroom, he worked as a respite care provider for children with disabilities, including a child with cerebral palsy, and he volunteered at camps working with children with neuromuscular disorders.
“By investigating how upper extremity exoskeletons can increase mobility and range of motion for these individuals, my research will open the door to a new category of rehabilitation in the emerging field of wearable robotics technologies,” he said. “This research will not only broaden the greater scientific understanding of the implementation of wearable robotics, but it will also have an ongoing impact on the future outcomes for individuals with neuromuscular disorders in our society.”
Read about NAU’s other GRFP winners:
Heidi Toth | NAU Communications
(928) 523-8737 | heidi.toth@nau.edu