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Robotic Assisted Locomotion (RAL) Lab (CDM-006)

Robotic Assisted Locomotion (RAL) Lab is documented in the DePaul Resource Map as center at DePaul University, Jarvis College of Computing and Digital Media, School of Computing, Loop. Documentation is partial or indirect, so the listing is treated as likely current. Assistive robotics research involving embedded systems, controls, and user-facing validation. The RAL Lab is the research group of Muhammad Umer Huzaifa, developing robot devices (legged robots, exoskeletons) to help people with limited mobility regain freedom of movement. Access: 🟡 Yellow — Needs an appointment or affiliation.

Summary 🟡 ~

  • College / school: Jarvis College of Computing and Digital Media
  • Sub-unit: School of Computing
  • Campus/Location: Loop
  • Last Verified: July 1, 2026

Access (availability): 🟢 Green — open or routine · 🟡 Yellow — appointment or affiliation · 🔴 Red — restricted · ⚪/⚫ White/Black — not yet classified

Verification: ✓ confirmed · ~ likely · ? needs review · ✕ archived

Description & capabilities

Assistive robotics research involving embedded systems, controls, and user-facing validation. The RAL Lab is the research group of Muhammad Umer Huzaifa, developing robot devices (legged robots, exoskeletons) to help people with limited mobility regain freedom of movement.

Access status

Verification

  • Status: ~ Likely current
  • Rationale: Documented from an archived institutional source. primary source: https://www.depaul.edu/academics/programs/bs-in-robotics
  • Last verified: 2026-07-01
  • Evidence:
  • CDM is home to several specialized research labs, including the Robotic Assisted Locomotion (RAL) Lab — developing robot devices to help people with limited mobility regain freedom of movement. (https://www.depaul.edu/academics/programs/bs-in-robotics)
  • Supplementary lab reference: https://facweb.cdm.depaul.edu/mhuzaifa/about/

Equipment

Find this resource from the Equipment catalog or site search by instrument or lab name.

Category Specific equipment
Mobile and legged robots Assistive locomotion robotic prototypes (research platforms); Legged robot platforms (program/lab research focus — modeling and human locomotion assistance); Exoskeleton / wearable assistive robot systems (research focus; models not published)
Electronics benches and prototyping Embedded systems development apparatus for robot controls and user-facing validation; User-testing instrumentation for assistive locomotion experiments; Teensy 4.1 microcontroller (PUB-089 lower-limb exoskeleton electronics framework); Raspberry Pi 4 (RPi4) control board (PUB-089; CAN/SPI/Ethernet IMU architecture)
FPGA and embedded control Embedded control / CPS engineering workflows for novel robot systems

Equipment access (via linked resources)

Resource Notes
CSH-023 OT apartment / motor gym / transfer training — related rehab and user-testing adjacency (capability bridge; not a documented collaboration)
CDM-004 CyberLabs Robotics & AI Lab (UR3e, drones, Vicon) — related robotics teaching/research adjacency; distinct inventory

Source: Huzaifa RAL + Robotics BS + PUB-089 Teensy/RPi4 exoskeleton electronics (Oct 2026); no public robot platform SKUs. Last verified: July 29, 2026.

Contacts (resource-level)

Last verified: June 14, 2026.

People & contacts

Named contacts when publicly documented.

Source URL

Official links and email are listed under Contacts above.

Documented Relationships

Faculty lead Muhammad Umer Huzaifa (PER-007). Funded in part by AGIF grant GRA-913 ("Assisted Locomotion Laboratory"). Related OT mobility / transfer-training capability (not a documented collaboration): CSH-023.

Documented connections

Generated from documented publication and people connections. Superscript numbers open Sources below. Multiple sources on one claim are grouped as 1,4. Grant links are listed on publication and grant pages.

Publications

People on linked publications

Sources

  1. Methods document Teensy 4.1 and Raspberry Pi 4 in lower-limb exoskeleton electronics framework (RAL / Huzaifa). DOI
  2. Crossref/crossref author list; batch 10 cohort review (Muhammad Umer Huzaifa). DOI

Notes

Faculty-lead correction (2026-06-14): the RAL Lab is the research group of Muhammad Umer Huzaifa (PER-007), per his CDM faculty page and the DePaul BS-in-Robotics page. The page previously named Jay Cunningham, who in fact directs the separate RAISE Lab (Responsible AI Systems & Societal Experiences) — preserved as a candidate for a future resource page. Source: institutional report