Amanrai Singh Kahlon
Sanford School
Hockessin, DE
Enhancing Wearable Gait-Monitoring Systems: Identifying Optimal Kinematic Inputs in Typical Adolescents
Rai Kahlon sought to improve assistive walking technology by identifying which wearable sensor signals can be used to identify patients’ walking gait. He identified two specific signals that could help train machine learning models that address gait problems in conditions such as cerebral palsy.
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Amanrai Singh Kahlon, 17, of Hockessin, utilized specialized sensors that measure motion to investigate how to enhance assistive walking technology with machine learning for his medicine and health Regeneron Science Talent Search project. Precisely identifying someone’s walking gait is crucial to assist walking, but requires expensive, specialized lab equipment. In his project, Rai placed cost-effective, more widely available wearable sensors on the legs of 30 adolescents and identified two signals based on sensor placement that produced consistent, robust data requiring minimal processing.
He believes that by producing usable sensor data, these “wearables” can be used to speed the creation of patient-customized exoskeleton assistive devices.
Rai plans to conduct future research using data from people with cerebral palsy. He is the lead author of a paper describing this project published in the journal Sensors.
The son of Randeep Kahlon and Mona Singh, Rai attends Sanford School where he plays varsity tennis. He is president of Delaware’s first statewide physician-shadowing program and secured a three-year grant to keep program participation cost-free for more than 200 students from 31 high schools.
Beyond the Project
Rai’s childhood friend with cerebral palsy inspired his research. His friend tried multiple exoskeletons to walk, each promising greater mobility and less wheelchair time, but none helped her. In ninth grade, Rai joined a gait lab to help.
FUN FACTS: Rai jokes that he loves “water sports,” skiing the tough trails in winter and SCUBA diving all year long, looking for wrecks and large sea creatures!
