NCBL
NCBL

University of Alberta

McNiel-Inyani Keri

McNiel.png
Bento Arm

Bento Arm

About ME

I graduated from the Biomedical stream in Electrical and Computer engineering at the University of Alberta 2016. During my undergraduate studies I was involved in several interesting projects. I worked in the FACIA lab to design and develop hardware and software for Nano scale spectroscopy. In the Telerobotic and Biorobotic Lab, I worked with a group of engineers, medical physicists and surgeons to develop a virtual reality display for brachytherapy surgery. This tool allows surgeons to view the trajectory of a needle within a patient in real time during surgery. The work in the Telerobotic and Biorobotic Lab lead to my final year design project where I implemented a force feedback teleoperation scheme for percutaneous needle insertion interventions with ultrasound image guidance. In the ACELab I had the opportunity to contribute to the development of GaMA, a program intended to make it easy to combine and analyze eye-tracking and motion-capture data. I also worked in the Bionic Limbs for Improved Natural Control (BLINC) Lab as a student researcher to develop a graphical interface to handle data display and manipulation of sensor data in the Instrumented Mechanical Cup project via wireless communication (Bluetooth). My industrial experience at FastTrack Technologies and Random Knowledge, both of which revolve around web development, have been a tremendous asset. I’ve also worked for several years at Neighborhood Bridges, a human rights organization based in Edmonton; this experience has greatly impacted my understanding of the impacts of science and technology in society.

    Research Interests:

    • Development of wearable technologies
    • Control and sensory feedback for bionic limbs
    • Biomechanics
    • Surgical robotics
    • Medical imaging
    • Augmented reality

    Supervisors:

    • Dr. Albert Vette
    • Dr. Jacqueline Hebert

     

     

    PROJECT

    My research is guided by Dr. Albert Vette and Dr. Jacqueline Hebert, director of the BLINC Lab. My work focuses on trying to restore movement feedback to the lower limb amputee population, by means of the kinesthetic illusion – a phenomenon whereby vibration of a musculotendinous region of a limb induces limb movement. I’m also developing a low-cost wireless system, using inertial measurement units (IMUs), which can track the gait of a single axis prosthetic knee. The IMU-based system will be used to bridge the movement of a prosthesis to actuators responsible for administering the kinesthetic illusion.

    I use various programming languages to conduct my research, with an emphasis on: C#, C/C++, and MATLAB. I have also used the Arduino microcontroller, the Eagle printed circuit board (PCB) software, Android studio and Apple’s Swift for various side project in the lab. I also use the Bento arm, a five degree of freedom robot, developed by the BLINC lab.

      AWARDS

      Community awards

      Academic

      • An Ivy and William Thomas on Undergraduate Scholarship – 2015
      • Industrial Undergraduate Student Research Award (IUSRA) – 2014
      • Industrial Undergraduate Student Research Award (IUSRA) – 2013
      • University of Alberta Academic Excellence Scholarship – 2012
      • Faculty of Engineering Academic Excellence Scholarship – 2012

      Other

      Publications

      • Carlos Rossa, McNiel-Inyani Keri, Madhi Tavaokli, "Brachytherapy Needle Steering Guidance Using Image Overlay," in Handbook of Research on Biomimetics and Biomedical Robotics, Cairo, Egypt, IGI Global, 217, pp. 191-204.