Tucker, Michael Robert

ETH Zürich Michael Robert Tucker Inst.f. Robotik u. Intelligente Systeme LEO B 7.2 Leonhardstrasse 27 8092 Zürich Phone: +41 44 632 91 92 E-Mail:

Short biography

Michael was born in Saranac Lake, New York on February 9th, 1987. He graduated summa cum laude for his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University in Potsdam New York in the spring of 2008. He continued his education at Clarkson, earning the Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering at the end of 2009. For his Master’s research, Michael developed a novel method for regenerating or passively dissipating excess power in a prototype powered transfemoral prosthetic.
Following his time at Clarkson University, Michael worked as a Systems Engineer with the defense company Raytheon on the AN/TPY-2 Missile Defense Radar program. His principle duties included regression and integration testing of the tactical radar software and radar performance assessment when run using simulated target objects and trajectories.
In June of 2011 Michael joined the Rehabilitation Engineering Lab (RELab), which is part of the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at the ETH in pursuit of a Doctoral degree. His research will focus on the design, control and characterization of mechatronic joints which can physically match the human impedance/torque range and reproduce behavioral strategies of joints in upper and lower limbs. These joints will be integrated and evaluated in prosthetic and orthotic platforms in conjunction with other researchers within the Swiss National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) in robotics.

Publications

M. R. Tucker and K. B. Fite, "Passive Damping with Electrical Power Generation for a DC Motor Actuated Transfemoral Prosthesis," 2010 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics, pp. 13-18 (July 2010).