Chris Nycz


Contact Information

Education

Research Interests

About Me

My research interests are in the use of powered hand orthoses, or hand exoskeletons, to assist people suffering from unilateral weakness in their upper limbs. My particular focus is on studying how compliance and passive degrees of freedom in the healthy hand aid in successful and robust grasping. Preserving or replicating these natural mechanics is often made difficult due to the size and weight constraints of the application; typically necessitating the use of stiff actuators and highly under-actuated mechanisms to maintain an acceptable weight for the target population (usually less than 200g placed on the hand). I have been exploring the use of passively compliant linkages, viscous coupling, and alternative actuators to address these challenges. I have also been working to better establish quantitative design requirements for factors such as minimum generated gripping forces needed to accomplish activities of daily living. Through these efforts the lab is seeking to produce light weight and highly functional orthoses which will be easier to use and provide greater benefit to the intended population.

Outside of my primary research, I have an interest in the design of automated systems for bio-fabrication with work on a system for assembling artificial blood vessels from rings of self-assembled vascular tissue.

Publications

Refereed Journal Publications

  1. Carvalho PA, Gandomi K, Nycz CJ, Fischer GS, Demonstration and Experimental Validation of Plastic-Encased Resonant Ultrasonic Piezoelectric Actuator for MRI-Guided Surgical Robots, ASME Journal of Engineering and Science in Medical Diagnostics and Therapy, Vol 3, No 1, Feb 2020. ASME
  2. Gondokaryono RA, Agrawal A, Munawar A, Nycz CJ, Fischer GS, An Approach to Modeling Closed-Loop Kinematic Chain Mechanisms, applied to Simulations of the da Vinci Surgical System, Special Issue on Platforms for Robotics Research - Acta Polytechnica Hungarica, Vol 16, No 8, pp 29-48, Nov 2019. Journal ToC, PDF
  3. Nycz CJ, Strobel HA, Suqui K, Grosha J, Fischer GS, Rolle M, A Method for High-Throughput Robotic Assembly of 3-Dimensional Vascular Tissue, Tissue Engineering Part A (TEA), January 2019. TEA, PubMed
  4. Wartenberg M, Schornak J, Gandomi K, Carvalho PA, Nycz CJ, Patel N, Iordachita I, Tempany C, Hata N, Tokuda J, Fischer GS, Closed-Loop Active Compensation for Needle Deflection and Target Shift During Cooperatively Controlled Robotic Needle Insertion, Annals of Biomedical Engineering (ABME), Vol 46, No 10, pp 1582-1594, Oct 2018. Springer, PubMed
  5. Nycz CJ, Meier TB, Carvalho PA, Meier G, Fischer GS, Design Criteria for Hand Exoskeletons: Measurement of Forces Needed to Assist Finger Extension in Traumatic Brain Injury Patients, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), Vol 3, No 4, pp 3285-3292, July 2018. IEEE
  6. Nycz CJ G, Butzer T, Lambercy O, Arata J, Fischer GS, Gassert R, Design and Characterization of a Lightweight and Fully Portable Remote Actuation System for Use with a Hand Exoskeleton, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), Vol 1, No 2, pp 976-983, July 2016. IEEE

Refereed Conference Proceedings

  1. Meier TB, Carvalho PA, Gandomi KS, Fischer GS, Nycz CJ, Assisting Hand Movement of TBI Patients Through Robotic Orthoses, Hamlyn Symposium, London, UK, June 2019. Hamlyn Proceedings
  2. Carvalho PA, Gandomi K, Nycz CJ, Fischer GS, Demonstration and Experimental Validation of Plastic-Encased Resonant Ultrasonic Piezoelectric Actuator for MRI-Guided Surgical Robots, ASME 2018 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, Nov 2018. PubMed
  3. Lewis B, Nycz CJ, Fischer GS, Venkatasubramanian KK, Authentication-Based on Biomechanics of Finger Movements Captured Using Optical Motion-Capture, ISVC 2018: Advances in Visual Computing, Proceedings of the International Symposium on Visual Computing, Las Vegas, NV, USA, pp 167-179, Nov 2018. Springer
  4. Nycz CJ, Gondokaryono R, Carvalho P, Patel N, Wartenberg M, Pilitsis JG, Fischer GS, Mechanical Validation of an MRI Compatible Stereotactic Neurosurgery Robot in Preparation for Pre-Clinical Trials, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems - IROS 2017, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Sept 2017. IEEE
  5. Nycz CJ G, Butzer T, Lambercy O, Arata J, Fischer GS, Gassert R, Design and Characterization of a Lightweight and Fully Portable Remote Actuation System for Use with a Hand Exoskeleton, International Conference on Robotics and Automation - ICRA 2016, Stockholm, Sweden, May 2016. IEEE
  6. Nycz CJ, Delph MA, Fischer GS, Modeling and Design of a Tendon Actuated Soft Robotic Exoskeleton for Hemiparetic Upper Limb Rehabilitation, IEEE EMBC 2015, Milan, Italy, Aug. 2015. IEEE, PubMed

Conference Abstracts, Workshops and Non Peer-Reviewed Papers

  1. Gandomi KS, Nycz CJ, Carvalho PA, Zhao Z, Patel NA, Burdette EC, Fischer GS, Development of a Real-Time Thermo-Acoustic Model for Interstitial Ultrasonic Conformal Ablation, Focused Energy Delivery and Precision Intervention Workshop at Hamlyn Symposium, London, UK, June 2019. Workshop
  2. Nycz CJ, Delph MA, Keough K, Farrell T, Fischer GS, Measuring Grip Forces in Activities of Daily Living with Relevance to Prosthetic and Orthotic Design, Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ, Oct 2017.
  3. Soderna BP, Nycz CJ, Fischer GS, Measuring the Motion of Finger Joints during Natural Flexion and Extension of the Human Hand, Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ, Oct 2017.
  4. Suqui K, Strobel H, Nycz C, Fischer GS, Rolle MW, Analysis of Structure and Strength of Tissue Rings Fabricated in Custom Machined Culture Wells, BMES 2016 Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, USA, Oct. 2016. BMES
  5. Carnes M, Nycz C, Shui J, Claveaux J, Markoski A, Eberheim R, Fischer GS, Pins G, 3D Printing System to Fabricate Therapeutically Loaded Biopolymer Microthreads for Applications in Tissue Engineering, BMES 2016 Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, USA, Oct. 2016. BMES
  6. Levi K, Nycz C, Strobel H, Fischer GS, Rolle MW, Custom Cell Seeding System to Enable Automated Vascular Tissue Self-Assembly, Vascular Biology 2015: NAVBO Vascular Matrix Biology and Bioengineering Workshop, Hyannis, MA, USA, Oct. 2015. NAVBO
  7. Huszagh M, Nycz C, Fischer GS, Modeling Finger Pose and Position in a Cable-Actuated Soft Exomusculate Robotic Glove For StrokeRehabilitation, Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Meeting - BMES 2014, San Antonio, TX, USA, Oct. 2014. BMES

Lab Members