Research

A short video made by MIT Engineering highlighting some aspects of my work
Rehabilitation Medicine 
Perhaps the largest portion of my research focuses on using wearable technology to quantify "how" people move. As of right now, many medical consumer grade wearable sensors provide objective-based metrics, but in order to provide physicians with decision-making tools, there is a need to develop performance-based metrics of human motion. In other words, instead of understanding "what" people are doing, quantifying "how" people move. I aim to use these metrics to quantify disease progression, rehab progress, and athletic performance.

 Aerospace Medicine 
Yes aerospace medicine is an actual thing... it relates to the changes that occur to the human body in the extreme environments encountered. My work in this domain has to do with quantifying space suit fit. These complicated exo-systems have a lot of moving parts with varying lengths of components, but it is poorly understood how changing these components affects performance during extravehicular activity (aka space walks). This work involves a deep understanding of the human-machine interaction. But I think the best part of this work is being able to collaborate with some great people at NASA and I get to wear prototype spacesuits!



 Publications and Conference Proceedings 


Fineman, R., McGrath, T., Kelty-Stephen, D., Abercromby, A., and Stirling, L. "Objective Metrics for Quantifying Fit and Performance in Spacesuit Assemblies." Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance (In Press, November 2018).


McGrath T, Fineman R, Stirling L. 2018. "An Auto-Calibrating Knee Flexion-Extension Axis Estimator using Principal Component Analysis with Inertial Sensors." Sensors. 18(6)


Fineman, Richard, Timothy McGrath, and Leia Stirling. "Development and Evaluation of Performance Metrics Quantifying Fit in Spacesuit Exo-Systems." In 89th Annual Meeting of the Aerospace Medicine Association (AsMA). Dallas, TX, 2018.


Fineman, Richard, and Leia A. Stirling. "Quantifying Techique-Based Performance Metrics During Static Balance Tasks." In Annual Gait and Clinical Movement Analysis Society Conference., 2018.


Fineman, Richard, and Leia Stirling. "Quantification and Visualization of Coordination during Non-Cyclic Upper Extremity Motion." Journal of Biomechanics 63 (2017): 82-91.


Fineman, Richard, Andrew Abercromby, Amy Ross, and Leia Stirling. "Cognitive Task Analysis of Mark III Fit Checks for the Development of Human-Spacesuit Performance Metrics ." In International Conference on Environmental Systems. Charleston, South Carolina, 2017.


Fineman, Richard, Conor Cullinane, Andrew Abercromby, and Leia Stirling. "Performance Metrics for Quantifying Dynamic Fit in Spacesuit Exo-systems: A Pilot Study." In International Conference on Environmental Systems. Charleston, South Carolina, 2017.


Fineman, Richard, and Leia Stirling. "Quantification and Visualization of Upper Limb Joint Coordination During Non-Cyclic Motion." In Engineering the Upper Arm. London,UK: Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 2016.


Beckers, Niek, Richard Fineman, and Leia Stirling. "Anticipatory Signals in Kinematics and Muscle Activity During Functional Grasp and Release." In IEEE Body Sensor Networks. Boston, MA, 2015.
For inquires about my work or papers, visit the Contact page. 

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