Skip to main content
  • Faculty & Staff Kintranet

Utility

  • Apply
  • Directory
  • For Employers
  • Giving
  • Spirit Store

Site Search

Home

Main navigation

  • Academics
  • Research
  • Admissions & Financial Aid
  • Student Services
  • News & Events
  • Alumni
  • About
  • Apply
  • Directory
  • For Employers
  • Giving
  • Spirit Store
  • Kintranet
Labs & Centers
Student looking into a microscope

Main navigation

  • Labs & Centers
    • Assessing Traumatic Head Injury with Neurocognitive Approaches (ATHINA) Laboratory
    • Behavioral Biomechanics Laboratory
    • Brain Behavior Laboratory
    • Center for Inclusive Mobility Environments (CIME)
    • Center for Race & Ethnicity in Sport
    • Center for Sport & Sustainability
    • Center for Sport Marketing Research
    • Center for Sports Venues & Real Estate Development
    • Child Movement, Activity, & Developmental Health Laboratory
    • Childhood Disparities Research Laboratory
    • Comparative Orthopaedic Rehabilitation Laboratory
    • Environment & Policy Laboratory
    • Exercise & Health Behavior In Oncology Laboratory
    • Exercise Oncology Laboratory
    • Human Bioenergetics Laboratory
    • Healthy Aging After Cancer Laboratory
    • Human Performance & Sport Science Center
    • Integrative Molecular Genetics Laboratory
    • KineOmics Laboratory
    • Lifestyle, Exercise, & Arteries Laboratory
    • Locomotion Research Laboratory
    • Michigan Center for Sport & Social Responsibility
    • Michigan Center for Sport Management
    • Michigan Performance Research Laboratory
    • Motivation Laboratory
    • Motor & Visual Development Laboratory
    • Motor Control Laboratory
    • Muscle Biology Laboratory
    • Musculoskeletal Biomechanics & Imaging Laboratory
    • Neuromuscular Physiology of Human Movement Laboratory
    • NeuroTrauma Research Laboratory
    • Orthopedic Rehabilitation & Biomechanics Laboratory
    • Performance, Rehabilitation & Injury Management through Exercise (PRIME) Laboratory
    • Physical Activity & Health Laboratory
    • Rehabilitation Biomechanics Laboratory
    • Roybal Center for Promoting Adherence to Behavior Change & Enhancing Cognitive Function
    • Substrate Metabolism Laboratory
    • Translational Physical Activity Laboratory
    • U-M Concussion Center
  • Research Areas
  • Faculty Interests
  • Undergraduate Research (UROP)
Back to Labs & Centers

Rehabilitation Biomechanics Laboratory

Helping improve performance with prosthetic devices
RBL students observe a participant testing a prosthetic hand
About

The Rehabilitation Biomechanics Laboratory studies how people perform and control repetitive movements, specifically using orthotic and prosthetic devices. Through various collaborations on and off campus, we are working to improve devices, test their effectiveness, and ultimately make controlling them more intuitive for users.

Learn more at rehab-biomech-lab.kines.umich.edu.

Contact Info

Website
https://rehab-biomech-lab.kines.umich.edu/
Director(s)

Deanna Gates, PhD

[email protected]
Download CV Michigan Research Expert Profile

Member(s)

Staff

Bekah Perlin

,
[email protected]
PhD Student(s)

Kristin Perrin

,
[email protected]
Postdoctoral Fellow(s)

Silke Kerstens, PhD

,
[email protected]

PhD Students mentored by Dr. Gates, but in different programs

  • Jake Kanetis (Robotics)
  • Martin Kilbane (Mechanical Engineering)
  • Mira Mutnick (Biomedical Engineering)

Collaborator(s)

  • Cindy Chestek, PhD, U-M Biomedical Engineering
  • Brian Kelly, DO, U-M Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
  • Jeff Wensman, BSME, CPO, U-M Orthotics and Prosthetics Center

Projects

Design Priorities for Upper Limb Prostheses
Powered Ankle Prostheses
Upper limb motion during everyday tasks
rgb(0,39,76)

News

Using your own brain signals to make your prosthesis smarter and more functional?
There’s research — and devices in development — for that. Movement science professor Deanna Gates shares how the innovative technology has progressed over the last decade and where the research is going next.
August 22, 2025
rgb(0,39,76)
UM logo
School of Kinesiology
830 N. University Ave.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1048
CAA HEP logo CAATE logo AKA logo

Menu

  • Intranet
  • Contact Us
  • Job Postings
  • Privacy Notice
  • Provide Website Feedback

Social

  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • X/Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Flickr

© 2026 The Regents of the University of Michigan

Site produced by Michigan Creative, a unit of the Office of the Vice President for Communications