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About

Catherine Kinnaird is a leading researcher in the field of rehabilitation robotics and human motor control, with a particular focus on how the nervous system adapts to robotic assistance. Her work centers on using electromyography (EMG)-controlled exoskeletons to understand and retrain locomotion after neurological injury. Kinnaird’s major contributions include demonstrating that humans can rapidly adapt their muscle activity when a robotic ankle exoskeleton is controlled by their own soleus or medial gastrocnemius EMG signals, effectively “unloading” the biological muscle to return to normal walking patterns. Her 2008 study on medial gastrocnemius control (70 citations) and her 2013 work on antagonistic exoskeletons (56 citations) have been foundational in revealing the neural reorganization underlying locomotor adaptation. She has also compared kinematic, muscular, and metabolic responses across exoskeletal, elliptical, and therapist-assisted stepping in individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury (47 citations), providing critical insights for clinical rehabilitation. Kinnaird’s research bridges neuroscience and engineering, offering a framework for designing intelligent, adaptive prosthetics and exoskeletons that work in harmony with the human body.