Robert Armiger is a member of the Principal Professional Staff at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.  He leads the Health and Biological Sciences Branch, which performs leading research and development in the areas of Biological Sciences, Human Performance and Biomechanics, Health Data Analytics, and Next Generation Care Delivery. His projects include developing neuroprosthetic technologies for restoring function to wounded warfighters, as well as modeling and simulation of human and surrogate systems to understand injury mechanisms due to blast, blunt, and ballistic threats. In 2015, he was named the Maryland Academy of Sciences Outstanding Young Engineer.

Education History

  • B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech
  • M.S. Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University

Work Experience

Principal Professional Staff, JHU Applied Physics Laboratory

Publications

• Hotson G, McMullen DP, Fifer MS, Johannes MS, Katyal KD, Para MP, Armiger R, Anderson WS, Thakor NV, Wester BA, Crone NE. Individual finger control of a modular prosthetic limb using high-density electrocorticography in a human subject. J Neural Eng. 2016 Apr;13(2):026017. doi: 10.1088/1741-2560/13/2/026017. PubMed PMID: 26863276; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4875758.
• Murphy RJ, Armiger RS, Lepistö J, Armand M. Clinical evaluation of a biomechanical guidance system for periacetabular osteotomy. J Orthop Surg Res. 2016 Mar 30;11:36. doi: 10.1186/s13018-016-0372-3. PubMed PMID: 27029935; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4812624.
• Murphy RJ, Armiger RS, Lepistö J, Mears SC, Taylor RH, Armand M. Development of a biomechanical guidance system for periacetabular osteotomy. Int J Comput Assist Radiol Surg. 2015 Apr;10(4):497-508. doi: 10.1007/s11548-014-1116-7. PubMed PMID: 25234421; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4476510.
• Bradfield CA, Demetropoulos CK, Luongo ME, Pyles CO, Armiger RS, Merkle AC. Experimental Characterization of the Anatomical Structures of the Lumbar Spine Under Dynamic Sagittal Bending. Biomed Sci Instrum. 2015;51:151-8. PubMed PMID: 25996712.
• Iwaskiw AS, Wickwire AC, Armiger RS, Merkle AC, Carneal CM. Automated Measurement Technique for the Determination of Regional Skull and Scalp Constituent Thickness. Biomed Sci Instrum. 2015;51:165-72. PubMed PMID: 25996714.
• Pyles CO, Zhang J, Demetropoulos CK, Bradfield CA, Ott KA, Armiger RS, Merkle AC. Material Parameter Determination of an L4-L5 Motion Segment Finite Element Model Under High Loading Rates. Biomed Sci Instrum. 2015;51:206-13. PubMed PMID: 25996719.
• Niknafs N, Murphy RJ, Armiger RS, Lepistö J, Armand M. Biomechanical factors in planning of periacetabular osteotomy. Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2013 Dec 10;1:20. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2013.00020. PubMed PMID: 25152876; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4126379.
• Basafa E, Armiger RS, Kutzer MD, Belkoff SM, Mears SC, Armand M. Patient-specific finite element modeling for femoral bone augmentation. Med Eng Phys. 2013 Jun;35(6):860-5. doi: 10.1016/j.medengphy.2013.01.003. PubMed PMID: 23375663; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4476497.
• Dooley CJ, Wester BA, Wing ID, Voo LM, Armiger RS, Merkle AC. Response of thoracolumbar vertebral bodies to high rate compressive loading – biomed 2013. Biomed Sci Instrum. 2013;49:172-9. PubMed
• Wing ID, Merkle AC, Armiger RS, Carkhuff BG, Roberts JC. Development of a miniaturized position sensing system for measuring brain motion during impact – biomed 2013. Biomed Sci Instrum. 2013;49:281-8. PubMed PMID: 23686211.
• Otake Y, Armand M, Armiger RS, Kutzer MD, Basafa E, Kazanzides P, Taylor RH. Intraoperative image-based multiview 2D/3D registration for image-guided orthopaedic surgery: incorporation of fiducial-based C-arm tracking and GPU-acceleration. IEEE Trans Med Imaging. 2012 Apr;31(4):948-62. doi: 10.1109/TMI.2011.2176555. PubMed PMID: 22113773; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4451116.
• Iwaskiw AS, Armiger RS, Ott KA, Wickwire AC, Merkle AC. Response of individual thoracolumbar spine ligaments under high-rate deformation. Biomed Sci Instrum. 2012;48:194-201. PubMed PMID: 22846283.
• Ott KA, Armiger RS, Wickwire AC, Carneal CM, Trexler MM, Lennon AM, Zhang J, Merkle AC. Method for obtaining simple shear material properties of the intervertebral disc under high strain rates. Biomed Sci Instrum. 2012;48:324-31. PubMed PMID: 22846301.
• Alphonso AL, Monson BT, Zeher MJ, Armiger RS, Weeks SR, Burck JM, Moran C, Davoodie R, Loeb G, Pasquina PF, Tsao JW. Use of a virtual integrated environment in prosthetic limb development and phantom limb pain. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2012;181:305-9. PubMed PMID: 22954877.
• Zeher MJ, Armiger RS, Burck JM, Moran C, Kiely JB, Weeks SR, Tsao JW, Pasquina PF, Davoodi R, Loeb G. Using a virtual integration environment in treating phantom limb pain. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2011;163:730-6. PubMed PMID: 21335889.
• Armand M, Armiger R, Mendat D, Lepistö J, Tallroth K, Mears S, Belkoff S, Taylor R, Murphy R, Chintalapani G, Sadowski O. Computer-Assisted Orthopedic Surgery with Real-Time Biomechanics. Johns Hopkins APL Tech Dig. 2010 Jan 1;28(3):214-215. PubMed PMID: 21151804; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2999629.
• Sung Soo Kim, Sripati AP, Vogelstein RJ, Armiger RS, Russell AF, Bensmaia SJ. Conveying tactile feedback in sensorized hand neuroprostheses using a biofidelic model of mechanotransduction. IEEE Trans Biomed Circuits Syst. 2009 Dec;3(6):398-404. doi: 10.1109/TBCAS.2009.2032396. PubMed PMID: 23853287; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4041344.
• Haraguchi N, Armiger RS. A new interpretation of the mechanism of ankle fracture. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2009 Apr;91(4):821-9. doi: 10.2106/JBJS.G.01288. PubMed PMID: 19339566.
• Armiger RS, Armand M, Tallroth K, Lepistö J, Mears SC. Three-dimensional mechanical evaluation of joint contact pressure in 12 periacetabular osteotomy patients with 10-year follow-up. Acta Orthop. 2009 Apr;80(2):155-61. doi: 10.3109/17453670902947390. PubMed PMID: 19404795; PubMed Central
• Haraguchi N, Armiger RS, Myerson MS, Campbell JT, Chao EY. Prediction of three-dimensional contact stress and ligament tension in the ankle during stance determined from computational modeling. Foot
• Russell AF, Armiger RS, Vogelstein RJ, Bensmaia SJ, Etienne-Cummings R. Real-time implementation of biofidelic SA1 model for tactile feedback. Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2009;2009:185-8. doi: 10.1109/IEMBS.2009.5333565. PubMed PMID: 19964205; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3962798.
• Lepistö J, Armand M, Armiger RS. Periacetabular osteotomy in adult hip dysplasia – developing a computer aided real-time biomechanical guiding system (BGS). Suom Ortoped Traumatol. 2008;31(2):186-190. PubMed PMID: 20490364; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2873027.
• Tenore F, Armiger RS, Vogelstein RJ, Wenstrand DS, Harshbarger SD, Englehart K. An embedded controller for a 7-degree of freedom prosthetic arm. Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2008;2008:185-8. doi: 10.1109/IEMBS.2008.4649121. PubMed PMID: 19162624.
• Bishop W, Armiger R, Burck J, Bridges M, Hauschild M, Englehart K, Scheme E, Vogelstein RJ, Beaty J, Harshbarger S. A real-time virtual integration environment for the design and development of neural prosthetic systems. Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2008;2008:615-9. doi: 10.1109/IEMBS.2008.4649228. PubMed PMID: 19162731.
• Armiger RS, Armand M, Lepisto J, Minhas D, Tallroth K, Mears SC, Waites MD, Taylor RH. Evaluation of a computerized measurement technique for joint alignment before and during periacetabular osteotomy. Comput Aided Surg. 2007 Jul;12(4):215-24. PubMed PMID: 17786597; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2716292.
• Chao EY, Armiger RS, Yoshida H, Lim J, Haraguchi N. Virtual Interactive Musculoskeletal System (VIMS) in orthopaedic research, education and clinical patient care. J Orthop Surg Res. 2007 Mar 8;2:2. PubMed PMID: 17343764; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1838408.

Honors and Awards

  • Maryland Academy of Sciences Outstanding Young Engineer (2015)