My primary research interest is in the application of functional electrical stimulation (FES) to provide disabled individuals with increased independence and improved quality of life.

In particular, I have focused my work on FES as applied to cervical level spinal cord injury. These individuals have paralyzed muscles in both their hands and arms. FES can be used to produce grasp and release motions, allowing the individual to perform many tasks that they could not otherwise perform independently.

Areas of Interest

  • Learning models of the response of the arm to electrical stimulation from force and motion data
  • Planning feasible movement trajectories given limitations in FES systems
  • Automatic improvement of FES control based on tactile feedback from a therapist or caregiver

Research Programs

  • Model Learning and Planning for Control of Paralyzed Human Arms using Functional Electrical Stimulation

Publications (Select)

Entire publication list can be found here.

  • Wolf DN, Schearer EM. Evaluating an open-loop functional electrical stimulation controller for holding the shoulder and elbow configuration of a paralyzed arm. IEEE Int Conf Rehabil Robot. 2017 Jul;2017:789–794. doi: 10.1109/ICORR.2017.8009344 Pubmed PMID: 28813916
  • Schearer EM, Liao YW, Perreault EJ, Tresch MC, Memberg WD, Kirsch RF, Lynch KM. Semiparametric Identification of Human Arm Dynamics for Flexible Control of a Functional Electrical Stimulation Neuroprosthesis. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. 2016 Dec;24(12):1405-1415. doi: 10.1109/TNSRE.2016.2535348. Epub 2016 Feb 29. PubMed PMID: 26955041; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5205577.
  • Schearer EM, Liao Y, Perreault EJ, Tresc, MC, Memberg W D, Kirsch RF, and Lynch KM, “Evaluation of a Semi-Parametric Model for High-Dimensional FES Control,” in 7th International IEEE EMBS Neural Engineering Conference, 2015 (accepted).
  • Schearer EM, Liao Y, Perreault EJ, Tresc, MC, Memberg W D, Kirsch RF, and Lynch KM, “Multi-Muscle FES Force Control of the Human Arm for Arbitrary Goals,” IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 22(3):1- 10, May 2014. doi:10.1109/TNSRE.2013.2282903 PMID: 24122573
  • Schearer EM, Liao Y, Perreault EJ, Tresc, MC, Memberg W D, Kirsch RF, and Lynch KM, “Identifying Inverse Human Arm Dynamics Using a Robotic Testbed,” in International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2014. doi: 10.1109/IROS.2014.6943064
  • Liao YW, Schearer EM, Hu X, Perreault EJ, Tresch MC, Lynch KM. Modeling open-loop stability of a human arm driven by a functional electrical stimulation neuroprosthesis. Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2013;2013:3598-601. doi: 10.1109/EMBC.2013.6610321. PubMed PMID: 24110508.
  • Schearer EM, Liao Y, Perreault EJ, Tresc, MC, Memberg W D, Kirsch RF, and Lynch KM, “System Identification for 3D Force Control of a Human Arm Neuroprosthesis using Functional Electrical Stimulation,” in International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2012. doi:10.1109/ICRA.2012.6224981
  • Schearer EM, Liao Y, Perreault EJ, Tresc, MC, and Lynch KM, “Optimal Sampling of Recruitment Curves for Functional Electrical Stimulation Control,” in International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society, 2012. doi:10.1109/EMBC.2012.6345936 PMID:23365897

Schearer

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Investigator
Cleveland FES Center

Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Cleveland State University

CONTACT INFORMATION

Program Contact
Eric Schearer

Contact Number
(216) 687-6901

Contact Email
e.schearer@csuohio.edu

Twitter
@ericschearer