Pediatric Engineering Research Lab (PERL)

The Pediatric Engineering Research Lab (PERL) is involved in research of devices and therapies that will assist and rehabilitate children with neuromuscular disabilities and orthopedic disorders. These conditions include muscular dystrophy, spinal muscular atrophy, scoliosis, arthrogryposis, spinal cord injury, and leg length discrepancies. Projects include but are not limited to, the development of force driven instrumentation for leg lengthening, the Wilmington Robotic Exoskeleton (WREX) an anti-gravity upper limb orthosis, and the Cricket, a sensor to detect patient compliance with brace wear.

PERL has a staff of biomedical engineers and students that work with various clinicians at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children to conceive and develop engineering solutions to medical problems. PERL has affiliations with Drexel University and University of Delaware in biomedical and mechanical engineering with full facilities for mechanical and electronic fabrication of research prototypes. PERL collaborates with a number of companies to manufacture and market devices conceived and developed at PERL.