FURI | Spring 2026

Gait Entrainment with Periodic Vibrotactile Stimuli

This research aims to determine the efficacy of periodic vibrotactile stimuli in inducing gait entrainment in healthy subjects, a field with great promise for rehabilitative applications in neurologically impaired patients. While numerous methods for gait entrainment exist, including perturbation with robotic exoskeletons and functional electrical stimulation (FES), current methods have issues that make them undesirable for use in rehabilitation. Robotic exoskeletons alter natural gait biomechanics, and FES causes pain with prolonged use. In comparison, vibrotactile stimulation is a purely sensory entrainment method that causes no pain with its usage, making it an ideal candidate.