Functional electrical stimulation is the only way to restore movements of paralyzed limbs. Through different projects we are interested in many of the following aspects of neuroprostheses : implanted stimulators, neural sensors, biomechanics, modeling of stimulated muscles, movement synthesis and patient interface. Our research also concerns the human sensory motor system, including muscles, sensory feedbacks, and neural motor networks. We want to understand how the system is organized, how the components (sensors, effectors, neural networks) functions. Thus, we aim at an integrated modeling of the whole system in order to obtain a quantified description and analysis based on the underlying physiological processes and on subject parameters identifications.

I am in charge of modeling part of DEMAR project. The scientific approach is to develop multi scale models based on the physiological microscopic reality up to a macroscopic behavior of the main parts of the sensory motor system : muscles and neural sensors. In this presentation, the overview of research project and some recent results are explained including our implantable neural stimulator, skeletal muscle modeling, experiments and identification in paraplegic patients.