Aspire Create

Our work

Set up in 2014, Aspire CREATE develops translational research to improve the quality of life of people with spinal cord injuries (SCIs). We investigate techniques that are applicable and transferable between different domains in related areas of interest. These include, but are not limited to:

• spinal cord and nerve injury
• stroke
• muscular dystrophy
• amputation
• ageing populations
• training of specialised skills (e.g., surgical).

We regularly invite school students to test our projects and get involved in the science. This is one of our favourite engagement activities. The students learn a lot, and our team learns from them too.

Research themes

Would you like to participate in our research?

Our work could not happen without volunteers. We often run studies with patients and members of the public. (You do not need to be a local patient.) If you are interested, let us know.

If you want to be informed of our studies, send a blank email to aspire-create-research-join@ucl.ac.uk. Anyone on the UCL network can subscribe via the mailing list homepage.

Our facilities

Aspire Create is well-equipped with state-of-the-art facilities for developing and evaluating assistive and rehabilitative technologies. Our key lab facilities include dedicated:

• Mechatronic workshop
• Mechanical testing workshop
• Robotics lab
• 3D printing lab
• CAD/CAM facilities
• HaMMoC - Human and machine motion capture platform, with full-body optical tracking
• 2 x Human experiment labs

Our people

Research associates

• Dr Sean Doherty (Postdoc) | sean.doherty.15@ucl.ac.uk
• Dr Elliott Magee (Postdoc) | e.magee@ucl.ac.uk
• Dr Ha Le (Postdoc) | h.le@ucl.ac.uk

Former associates

• Dr Tijana Jevtic | Postdoc
• Dr Kylie de Jager |Senior Postdoc
• Dr Stefan Catalin Teodorescu | Postdoc, 2018-2021
• Dr Harry Eberle | Postdoc, 2019-2021
• Dr Bonolo Mathibela |Postdoc, 2018-2021
• Dr Yazi Al’joboori | Postdoc
• Dr Fjodors Tjulkins | Postdoc, 2017-2018
• Dr Yazi Al’joboori | Postdoc
• Dr Henry Lancashire | Postdoc, 2017-2018
• Dr Alireza Rastegarpanah | Postdoc, 2017-2018
• Dr Michael Mentink | Postdoc, 2015-2017

PhD students

• Ivy Mumuni | ivy.mumuni.23@ucl.ac.uk
• Ziyue Zhu | ziyue.zhu.23@ucl.ac.uk 
• Haiming Luo | haiming.luo.22@ucl.ac.uk
• Jianan Chen | jianan.chen.22@ucl.ac.uk
• Xinkai Zhou | xinkai.zhou.21@ucl.ac.uk
• Yunyi Zhao | yunyi.zhao.21@ucl.ac.uk
• Yunjia Xia | yunjia.xia.18@ucl.ac.uk
• Marim Basiouny | marim.basiouny.19@ucl.ac.uk
• Irving Caplan | i.caplan@ucl.ac.uk
• Nayereh Seyedarabi | n.seyedarabi@ucl.ac.uk

Research assistants

• Johnny McNulty | j.mcnulty@ucl.ac.uk
• Peter Snow (PhD student) | p.snow@ucl.ac.uk
• George Walker |  george.walker@ucl.ac.uk
• Ha Le | Research Assistant, 2014-16

Affiliated researchers

• Dr Henry Lancashire | h.lancashire@ucl.ac.uk
• Prof. Nick Donaldson | n.donaldson@ucl.ac.uk
• Prof. Catherine Holloway | c.holloway@ucl.ac.uk
• Dr Catalin Stefan Teodorescu | s.teodorescu@ucl.ac.uk
• Dr Giulia Barbareschi | giulia.barbareschi.14@ucl.ac.uk

Selected publications

1. Morbidi F, Devigne L, Teodorescu CS, Carlson T, et al. (2022). Assistive Robotic Technologies for Next-Generation Smart Wheelchairs: Codesign and Modularity to Improve Users' Quality of Life. IEEE Robotics and Automation magazine, 2-14.
2. Papadopoulou A, Kumar NS, Vanhoestenberghe A & Francis NK (2022). Environmental sustainability in robotic and laparoscopic surgery: systematic review. The British Journal of Surgery, znac191.
3. Pacaux-Lemoine MP, Habib L, Carlson T (2022). Levels of Cooperation in Human-Machine Systems: A Human-BCI-Robot example. In Fortino, G., Kaber, D., Nurnberger, A., Mendoca, D. (eds.), Handbook of Human-Machine Systems. Wiley-IEEE Press.
4. Teodorescu C, Zhang B & Carlson T (2021). A Stochastic Control Strategy for Safely Driving a Powered Wheelchair. IFAC PapersOnLine 53-2 (2020) 10148–10153.
5. Jiang D, Liu F, Lancashire HT, Vanhoestenberghe A, et al. (2021). A Versatile Hermetically Sealed Microelectronic Implant for Peripheral Nerve Stimulation Applications. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 15
6. Peterken F, Benjaber M, Doherty S, Donaldson N, et al. (2021). Adapting the Finetech-Brindley Sacral Anterior Root Stimulator for Bioelectronic Medicine. 43rd International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society.
7. Al'Joboori Y, Hannah R, Francesca L, Duffell L, et al. (2021). The immediate and short-term effects of transcutaneous Spinal Cord Stimulation and Peripheral Nerve Stimulation on Corticospinal Excitability. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 15.
8. Yue K, Lancashire H, de Jager K, Vanhoestenberghe A, et al. (2021). An Assistive Coughing Device for Post-Laryngectomy Patients. IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics, 1.
9. Zhang B, Eberle H, Holloway C, Carlson T (2021). From HRI to CRI: Crowd Robot Interaction - understanding the effect of robots on crowd motion. International Journal of Social Robotics, 14, 631-643.
10. Ghoreishizadeh SS, Liu Y, Carminati M (2021). Guest Editorial: Special Issue of IEEE TBioCAS on Selected Papers of IEEE ICECS 2020 Conference. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems, 15 (5), 859.
11. Debelle A, Hesta M, de Rooster H, Vanhoestenberghe A, et al. (2021). Impact of adaptive gastric electrical stimulation on weight, food intake, and food intake rate in dogs. Artificial Organs, 46 (6), 1055-1067.
12. Debelle A, de Rooster H, Vanhoestenberghe A, et al. (2021). Optimization and assessment of a novel gastric electrode anchoring system designed to be implanted by minimally invasive surgery. Medical Engineering and Physics, 92, 93-101.
13. McNulty J, de Jager K, Lancashire HT, Vanhoestenberghe A, et al. (2021). Prediction of larynx function using multichannel surface EMG classification. IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics, 1.
14. Lamont C, Grego T, Vanhoestenberghe A, Donaldson N, et al. (2021). Silicone encapsulation of thin-film SiOₓ, SiOₓNy and SiC for modern electronic medical implants: a comparative long-term ageing study. Journal of Neural Engineering, 18.
15. Oldfrey B, Loureiro R, Holloway C, et al. (2021). Additive manufacturing techniques for smart prosthetic liners. Medical Engineering & Physics, 87, 45-55.
16. Watson F, Fino PC, Heracleous C, Loureiro R, et al. (2021). Use of the margin of stability to quantify stability in pathologic gait - a qualitative systematic review. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 22 (1).
17. Pacaux-Lemoine M-P, Habib L, Sciacca N & Carlson T (2020). Emulated haptic shared control for brain-computer interfaces improves human-robot cooperation. IEEE International Conference on Human-Machine Systems (ICHMS), Rome.
18. Abbink DA, Carlson T, Mulder M, de Winter JCF, et al. (2018). A Topology of Shared Control Systems—Finding Common Ground in Diversity. IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems, 48(5), 509-525.
19. Rastegarpanah A, Rakhodaei H, Saadat M, Loureiro RCV, et al. (2018). Path-planning of a hybrid parallel robot using stiffness and workspace for foot rehabilitation. Advances in Mechanical Engineering. January 2018.
20. Snow PW, Sedki I, Sinisi M, Comley R & Loureiro RCV (2017). Robotic therapy for phantom limb pain in upper limb amputees. International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR), pp. 1019-1024.

Funding / Partnerships

The Centre for Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology (Aspire CREATE) is an exciting joint research venture between UCL, the Aspire Charity, and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore.

We are proud to be part of:

• ISI4NAVE, an INRIA associated team
• UCL Robotics
• UCL Institute of Healthcare Engineering

The organisations we work with include:

• Aspire Charity
• Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital
• Barbara Bus Fund
• Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA).

We would like to thank the organisations that fund our work:

How to reach us

Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital
Brockley Hill
Stanmore
HA7 4LP