Human-Robot Empowerment Lab, University of Utah

I build robots to improve lives.

Robotics researcher focused on rehabilitation robotics, human sensing, medical robotics, and robot planning for accessible, adaptive therapy.

Current Focus

Human-centered robotics for rehabilitation.

Developing sensing-driven rehabilitation robot systems that measure muscle engagement during multi-axis upper-limb tasks.

Studying how robot-mediated interfaces and adaptive control can support healthier movement practice after neurological injury.

Exploring social robot augmented telepresence for broader access to rehabilitation care.

Selected Research

Recent publications and projects

View all research
2026 RMASB

A Gradient-Descent-Based Null Space Planner for Dexterity Optimization during Upper-Limb Robot-Mediated Rehabilitation

Null-space planning work for maintaining dexterity during upper-limb robot-mediated rehabilitation.

2026 arXiv

Characterizing Healthy & Post-Stroke Neuromotor Behavior During 6D Upper-Limb Isometric Gaming: Implications for Design of End-Effector Rehabilitation Robot Interfaces

Analysis of healthy and post-stroke neuromotor behavior during 6D isometric trajectory tracking with an end-effector rehabilitation robot.

2025 ICORR

An Extensible Platform for Measurement and Modification of Muscle Engagement During Upper-Limb Robot-Facilitated Rehabilitation

OpenRobotRehab platform work for measuring muscle engagement during 6D upper-limb trajectory tracking tasks.

Code

GitHub activity

Repository work, research code, and project artifacts live on GitHub.

github.com/ajyanand
Ajay Anand GitHub statistics

Photography

Frozen Peeks

Landscape, travel, and field notes live at @frozenpeeks.

Photography