Barbara Silver-Thorn
Papers
2
Total Citations
57
H-Index
2
About
Barbara Silver-Thorn is a leading researcher in biomechatronics and rehabilitation engineering, with a core focus on advancing prosthetic control for lower-limb amputees. Her work bridges the gap between human physiology and robotic technology, primarily targeting the development of intuitive, user-driven interfaces for powered prostheses. A major contribution is her pioneering use of within-socket myoelectric signals—electrical activity from residual muscles—to predict and control ankle kinematics in real time. Her most-cited paper (2014, 45 citations) demonstrated that a nonlinear autoregressive model could continuously map these signals to prosthesis movement, enabling more natural gait. She further extended this work (2021, 12 citations) by showing that a single neural network can predict future ankle angle and moment across varying ambulation conditions and terrain transitions—a critical step toward adaptive, predictive control. Silver-Thorn’s research directly addresses the challenge of seamless human-robot interaction, offering amputees greater mobility and stability. Her innovative approach to using residual muscle signals for continuous, predictive control has made her a notable figure in the field, with her work informing next-generation prosthetic design and rehabilitation strategies.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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