Closed-Loop Embodiment and Gait Stabilization Using a Robotic Tail for Neurorehabilitation in Parkinson’s Disease

About the Project

Project Overview:

Can you walk like a dinosaur? What if balance did not come only from two legs, but from an additional limb extending behind you? What if instability caused by disease could be addressed not by restoring lost function, but by adding something entirely new? This project explores a idea that equipping humans with a robotic tail can reshape our brain and motor control and potentially restore stable walking in neurological conditions.

Human motor control is highly adaptive, capable of integrating tools into the body schema through sensorimotor learning. However, far less is known about how the brain responds to entirely new appendages with independent degrees of freedom. This question is especially relevant in disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, where gait instability and impaired coordination reflect disrupted neural dynamics. Instead of only attempting to restore function, this project proposes augmenting the body with a robotic tail embedded in a closed-loop system to stabilize locomotion and reorganize motor coordination.

The central hypothesis is that a tightly coupled system integrating brain activity, muscle signals, body kinematics, and robotic actuation will enable embodiment of the artificial tail, leading to improved gait stability. Here, embodiment is treated as a measurable, dynamic process reflected in both neural activity and coordinated movement. The tail acts not as a passive aid, but as an adaptive component within a brain-body-environment loop, and we study brain signals for embodiment process of the robotic tail.

To achieve this, the project will develop a real-time closed-loop architecture of robotic tail combining EEG (to infer motor intent and neural signatures), EMG (to capture muscle coordination), and motion capture (to quantify posture and gait). These inputs will drive an adaptive controller that modulates the tail’s behavior during walking, continuously updating based on movement errors to align neural intention, bodily motion, and robotic assistance.

This work aims to redefine neurorehabilitation, not by restoring the body to its original state, but by expanding it. By integrating a robotic tail into a closed-loop system, the project investigates whether the nervous system can adopt an artificial limb and use it to achieve new stable, coordinated movement.

Complex Machine Group

Our research group explores the physics of complex systems through the lens of cybernetics, focusing on how intelligence and behavior emerge from closed-loop interactions between brain, body, and environment. We study living systems as inherently self-regulating and self-organizing, where sensing, actuation, and computation are not separated but deeply intertwined.

Challenging conventional frameworks that divide controller and body, we draw inspiration from development and biology, where structure and function co-emerge from distributed electrical, chemical, and mechanical interactions. Using a combination of physical chemical experiments, behavioral analysis, EEG, Artificial Intelligence, and mathematical modeling, we investigate the principles of adaptation, coordination, and spatiotemporal pattern formation in both living and synthetic systems.

By applying these cybernetic principles, we develop assistive technologies for motor impairments and bioinspired robotic systems for extreme environments, advancing a unified understanding of embodied intelligence.

Lab home page:https://www.sites.google.com/site/complexlivingmachineslab/

School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading:

The University of Reading, located west of London, England, provides world-class research education programs. The University’s main Whiteknights Campus is set in 120 hectares of beautiful parkland, a 30-minute train ride to central London and 40 minutes from London Heathrow airport.

Our School of Biological Sciences conducts high-impact research, tackling current global challenges faced by society and the planet. Our research ranges from understanding and improving human health and combating disease, through to understanding evolutionary processes and uncovering new ways to protect the natural world.

During your PhD at the University of Reading, you will expand your research knowledge and skills, receiving supervision in one-to-one and small group sessions. You will have access to cutting-edge technology and learn the latest research techniques. The University of Reading is a welcoming community for people of all faiths and cultures. We are committed to a healthy work-life balance and will work to ensure that you are supported personally and academically.

Eligibility:

Applicants should have a good degree (minimum of a UK Upper Second (2:1) undergraduate degree or equivalent) in Physics, Physical Chemistry, Engineering, Bioengineering or a strongly-related discipline. Applicants will also need to meet the University’s English Language requirements. We offer pre-sessional courses that can help with meeting these requirements. With a commitment to improving diversity in science and engineering, we encourage applications from underrepresented groups.

How to apply:

Submit an application for a PhD in Biological Sciences via our online application system.

Further information:

https://www.reading.ac.uk/biological-sciences/research

Enquiries:

Dr. Hayashi: email: y.hayashi@reading.ac.uk

Funding Notes

We welcome applications from self-funded students worldwide for this project. If you are applying to an international funding scheme, we encourage you to get in contact as we may be able to support you in your application.