Steinfeld and his colleagues are designing cooperative robots, or co-robots, to empower people with disabilities to safely travel and navigate unfamiliar environments. The team focuses on information exchange, assistive localization, and urban navigation in his research -- essentially finding new ways for robots and humans to interact. "In our experience, people who are blind are very willing to interact with a robot, to touch its arms and hands," he says.

Credit: Carnegie Mellon University

Walsh, whose NSF-funded projects include the development of a soft robotic exosuit and soft robotic glove -- both wearable technologies to restore or enhance human movement -- says affordability, comfort and convenience are important considerations in his research. "It comes down to: 'How do we apply as much force as possible in the most comfortable way?'" he says.

Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University

Xiaoli Zhang, an engineer at Colorado School of Mines, is developing a gaze-controlled robotic system that works in three dimensions to enable people with motor impairments to fetch objects using eye movement.

Credit: Xiaoli Zhang, Colorado School of Mines