Bio: School of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences

	Dan Ding, PhD
	Office Location Human Engineering Research Laboratories (HERL) VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System 151R-1 7180 Highland Drive Office phone 412-365-4885 E-mail address dad5@pitt.edu

Academic Appointment

Assistant Professor

Education

Postdoctoral Fellow in Rehabilitation Science and Technology, University of Pittsburgh, Nov. 2001-Aug. 2004.
PhD, Mechanical and Automation Engineering, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001.
BE, Mechanical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, China, 1995.

Research Interests

Assistive device instrumentation and monitoring
Wheelchair modeling, control, test and evaluation
Rehabilitation robotics
Virtual reality

Recent Publications

Journal Papers

Dan Ding, and R.A. Cooper, “A review of the current state of electric powered wheelchairs,” IEEE Control Systems Magazine, vol. 25 no. 2, pp. 22-34, 2005.

Dan Ding, R.A. Cooper, S.F. Guo, T.A. Corfman, “Analysis of driving backwards in an electric-powered wheelchair,” IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, Vol. 12, No. 6, pp. 934-943, 2004.

Dan Ding, R.A. Cooper, B.A. Kamniski, J.R. Kanaly, A. Allegretti, E. Chaves, and S. Hubbard, “Integrated control of assistive devices and related technology,” Assistive Technology, vol. 15, pp. 89-97, 2003.

R.A. Cooper, Dan Ding, R. Simpson, S. Fitzgerald, and etc. “Virtual reality and computer enhanced training applied to wheeled mobility: an overview of work in Pittsburgh”, Assistive Technology, to appear, 2005.

Dan Ding, Y.H. Liu, S.G. Wang, “Computation of 3D form-closure grasps”, IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, Vol. 17, No. 4, pp. 515-522, 2001.

Dan Ding, Y.H. Liu, S.G. Wang, “The synthesis of 3D form-closure grasps”, Robotica, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 51-58, 2000, Cambridge University Press.

Dan Ding, Y.H. Liu, M.Y. Wang, S.G. Wang, “Automatic selection of fixturing surfaces and fixturing points for polyhedral workpieces”,IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, Vol. 17, No. 6, pp. 833-841, 2001.

S.F. Guo, R.A. Cooper, T.A. Corfman, and Dan Ding, “Influence of wheelchair front caster wheel on the reverse driving stability”, Assistive Technology, vol. 15, pp. 98-104, 2003.

Y.H. Liu, M.L. Lam, and Dan Ding, “A complete and efficient algorithm for searching 3-D form-closure grasps in discrete domain”, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, Vol. 20, No. 5, pp. 805-816, 2004.

Y. H. Liu, Dan Ding, M. L. Lam, “3-D Grasp Analysis and Synthesis using the Ray-Shooting Technique,” in Robotics Welding, Intelligence and Automation, Lecture notes in control and information sciences, pp. 80-109, 2004, Springer-Verlag Press.

Conference Presentations & Proceedings

Dan Ding, R. A. Cooper, D. Spaeth, “An optimized joystick controller,” proceedings of the 26^th Annual International Conference IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, pp.4881-4883. San Francisco, CA, 2004.

Dan Ding, R. A. Cooper, S. Terashima, Y. S. Yang, R. Cooper, “A study on the balance function of the IBOT^TM Transporter,” Proceedings of Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology Society of North America Annual Conference, in CD-ROM. Orlando, FL, 2004.

Dan Ding, R. A. Cooper, D. Spaeth, “Isometric joystick tuning interface and assessment,” Proceedings of Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology Society of North America Annual Conference, in CD-ROM. Orlando, FL, 2004.

Dan Ding, R.A. Cooper, S.F. Guo and T.A. Corfman, “A study on modeling electric-powered wheelchairs”, Proceedings of Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology Society of North America Annual Conference, in CD-ROM. Atlanta, GA, 2003.

Dan Ding, R.A. Cooper, S.F. Guo and T.A. Corfman, “Robust velocity control simulation of a powered wheelchair”, Proceedings of Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology Society of North America Annual Conference, in CD-ROM. Atlanta, GA, 2003.

Dan Ding, R.A. Cooper, S.F. Guo and T.A. Corfman, “Interpreting joystick signals for wheelchair navigation”, Proceedings of Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology Society of North America Annual Conference, in CD-ROM. Atlanta, GA, 2003.

Dan Ding, R.A. Cooper, S.F. Guo and T.A. Corfman, “Disturbances induced by wheelchair caster when driving backwards”, Proceedings of Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology Society of North America Annual Conference, pp. 318-320. Minneapolis, MN, 2002.

Dan Ding, Y.H. Liu, and M.Y. Wang, “Fixture layout design for curved workpieces”, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 2906-2911. Washington DC, 2002.

Dan Ding, Y.H. Liu, and S.G. Wang, “Computing 3D optimal form-closure grasps”, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 3573-3578. San Francisco, CA, 2002.

Dan Ding, Y.H. Liu, and S.G. Wang, “The synthesis of 3D form-closure grasps”, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 3579-3584. San Francisco, CA, 2002.

Dan Ding, Y.H. Liu, and M.Y. Wang, “On computing immobilizing grasps of 3-D curved objects”, Proceedings of IEEE International Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Robotics and Automation, pp. 11-16. Alberta, Canada, 2001.

Dan Ding, Y.H. Liu, and S.G. Wang, “An efficient algorithm for computing 3D form-closure grasps”, Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robot and System, pp. 1223-1227. Takamatsu, Japan, 2000.

Y.H. Liu, Dan Ding, and S.G. Wang, “Towards construction of 3D frictional form-closure grasps: a formulation”, Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robot and System, pp. 279-284. Kyongju, South Korea, 1999.

Dan Ding, R.A. Cooper, D. Spaeth, R. Cooper, and S.G. Fitzgerald, “Wheelchair usage pattern: does age matter?”, Proceedings of the 3^rd International Congress on Restoration of mobility in spinal cord injury rehabilitation, in CD-ROM, 2004.

A. Hoover, R. A. Cooper, Dan Ding, et al, “Manual wheelchair use and reported pain”, Proceedings of Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology Society of North America Annual Conference, in CD-ROM, 2004.

A. Hoover, R.A. Cooper, Dan Ding, et al., “Comparing driving habits of wheelchair users: manual vs. power”, Proceedings of Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology Society of North America Annual Conference, in CD-ROM, 2003.

S.F. Guo, R.A. Cooper, Dan Ding, and T.A. Corfman, “Influence of powered wheelchair backwards driving stability on back-emf”, Proceedings of Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology Society of North America Annual Conference, in CD-ROM, 2003.

R. Simpson, S.F. Guo, and Dan Ding, “Smart power assistance module for manual wheelchairs,” Proceedings of Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology Society of North America Annual Conference, in CD-ROM, 2003.

G.L. Xiang, Y.H. Liu, Dan Ding, and Y.T. Shen, “An internet based pulse palpation system for Chinese Medicine”, Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robot and System, pp. 1481-1486, 2002.

Dan Ding, Y.H. Liu, J.W. Zhang, and A. Knoll, “Computation of fingertip positions for a form-closure grasp”, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 2217-2222, 2001.

Dan Ding, Y.H. Liu, and M.Y. Wang, “Automatic selection of fixturing surfaces and fixturing points for polyhedral objects”, Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robot and System, pp. 1147-1152, 2001.

M.L. Lam, Dan Ding, and Y.H. Liu, “Grasp planning under kinematic constraints”, Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robot and System, pp. 943-948, 2001.

Y.H. Liu, Dan Ding, and S.G. Wang, “Constructing 3D frictional form-closure grasps of polyhedral objects”, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 279-284, 1999.

Ding D, Guo SF, Hayashi S, and LoPresti E, Software design of the smart power assistance module for manual wheelchairs, Proceedings of Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA) conference, Atlanta, Georgia, 2005.

Leister E, Ding D, Cooper R, Kelleher A, Cooper RA, Boninger ML, Effectiveness and use of tilt-in-space and recline wheelchairs, Proceedings of Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA) conference, Atlanta, Georgia, 2005.

Tolerico M, Ding D, Cooper RA, Fitzgerald S, Cooper R, Kelleher A, Spaeth DM, and Boninger ML, Usage characteristics of ultralight manual wheelchair users: during and post the National Veterans Wheelchair Games, Proceedings of Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA) conference, Atlanta, Georgia, 2005.

Ding D, Leister E, Cooper RA, Spaeth DM, Cooper R, Kelleher A, and Boninger ML, A Wheelchair Usage Monitoring/Logging System, Proceedings of the 26^th Annual International Conference of the IEEE EMBS, ShangHai, China, accepted, 2005.

Courses Recently Taught

HRS 3708 Integrated and Shared Control of Assistive Devices

Recent Working Papers

Dan Ding, and R.A. Cooper, “A review of the current state of electric powered wheelchairs,” IEEE Control Systems Magazine, vol. 25 no. 2, pp. 22-34, 2005.

Biographical Profile

Dan Ding received her PhD in Mechanical and Automation Engineering from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong in 2001. She joined the Human Engineering Research Laboratories as a research scientist in November 2001, and is now an assistant professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology, University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Ding research interests include rehabilitation and assistive device instrumentation, control systems for powered wheelchairs, and rehabilitation robotics.

Dr. Ding has served expert reviewers for federal grants, peer-reviewed journals and conferences in the field of robotics and rehabilitation engineering. She has published more than 30 papers in refereed professional journals and international conference proceedings. She is a senior member of the Society of Instrumentation, Systems and Automation (ISA), a member of IEEE, and a member of RESNA.

Awards and Honors

2005 Phase I STTR, National Institute of Health, “Datalogger Development for Wheelchair Mobility Outcomes”.

2005 Competitive Medical Research Fund (CMRF), University of Pittsburgh, “An Experimental Testbed for Optimized Wheelchair Control”.

2005 Research Fellowship Award, Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA)

2004 Switzer Fellowship Award, National Institute of Disability Research and Rehabilitation (NIDRR), Department of Education

Dan Ding, PhD