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  • Group Photo Fall 2026
  • Utah powered neck exoskeleton for people with dropped head syndrome
  • A chaired-mounted cable-driven 6-DOF neck exoskeleton for head-neck rehabilitation
  • Cable-driven exosuit for head-neck movement assistance

Mission Statement

Our mission is to improve human health and mobility through the development and translation of assistive, rehabilitative, and surgical robotic systems. We combine advanced mechanism design and human subjects research, with a primary focus on head-neck motor impairments.

News

  • November 10th, 2026 - New paper alert! Ana Alvarez's paper is accepted by Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation. Congrats to Ana!
  • October 15th, 2026 - UWRL welcomes new postdoc researcher Francisco Anaya Reyes. Francisco will be supported by a 5-year NIH project.
  • October 5th, 2026 - Colin's paper on biomemetic design of eye-tracking controllers for robotic neck braces is accepted to be published on IEEE Transaction of Medical Robotics and Bionics. Congrats to Colin.
  • September 1st, 2026 - UWRL welcomes new postdoc researcher James Fang. James will be supported by a 5-year NIH project.
  • August 29th, 2026 - Robert's paper on designing and characterizing behavior of a novel 6-DoF spring is accepted to publish in the ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics (JMR). Congrats to Robert!
  • August 23rd, 2026 - Professor Zhang receives the Assistant Professor of the Year Award from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah for his outstanding research, teaching, and service to the department.
  • August 1st, 2026 - UWRL presents at the BioRob 2026. Please find highlights here!
  • July 6th, 2026 - UWRL welcomes three new MS Thesis students Eli Yale, Wesley Edwards, and Annie O'Bryan!
  • June 1st, 2026 - UWRL receives a new NIH R01 research grant. This five-year, $3 million grant will investigate use of the Utah Neck Exoskeleton for patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
  • May 4th, 2026 - Dr. Zhang to give a research talk at a workshop on assistive robotics during the BioRob 2026.
  • April 17, 2026 - UWR Lab presented work at the 2026 Rocky Mountain ASB! Ana, Claudia, and Joey delivered podium talks and Colin and Robert presented their posters. All presentations were well-received. Congratulations to all!
  • January 30, 2026 - Two papers from UWR Lab are accepted to present at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) this June. Congratulations to all authors. Preprints are available here and here.
  • December 22, 2025 - UWR Lab published a paper in IEEE TNSRE on evaluating the range of motion with neck support devices using daily activities. Congratulations to authors Kimia Khoshnami, Dr. Edoardo Battaglia, Dr. Mark Bromberg, and Dr. Haohan Zhang.

Funding