By day, James Arnold and David Pont work in the Harvard Biodesign Lab (HBL), developing wearable robotics for shoulder mobility and artificial intelligence algorithms to improve data on the effectiveness of physical therapy regimens. By night, they perform in a band called Luigi’s Fishtank, named after a piece of equipment used in their lab at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).“We’re researching two different technological interventions focused on upper limb assistance and recovery,” said Arnold, a computer science Ph.D. student. “One uses wearable sensors and algorithms to track patient arm use in daily life to enable a therapist to receive data from the past few weeks, for example a summary of how often the patient did their exercises. The other is a wearable robot since it’s hard for people to do a lot of things when they don't have a caregiver with them or the support of a therapist. The robot makes the patient more capable and able to do more independently.”
Luigi's Fishtank performs at "Abilities: Amplified" (Hannah Miller)
As researchers, Arnold and Pont are part of a National Science Foundation Convergence Accelerator project that supports engagement with end users and community. As musicians, they are always looking for opportunities to play. One night they discovered the Esplanade Association’s GroundBeat Concert Series, which organizes free concerts at the DCR Hatch Memorial Shell designed to showcase inclusivity and the Boston music scene.“Since both of us interact with a lot of patients, we'd talked about how it would be super cool to have some kind of event where all the people that have tested with our devices could come together,” Arnold said. “The idea was that our band could be the musical hosts, and we would bring in artists with disabilities to also perform on stage. And then after discussing with our advisor, we thought that the grassy area in front of the Hatch Shell would be ideal to invite organizations to have tables to demonstrate technology for assisting people with many different kinds of disabilities, who people attending the event could connect with.”That concept turned into “Abilities: Amplified,” a concert and community event that took place last month. Approximately 1,000 attendees got to watch Luigi’s Fishtank play alongside a jazz trio from the Berklee Institute for Accessible Arts Education, a cover band from the Massachusetts community group PluggedIn, and the Grammy-nominated blind musician Lachi. The event also featured tables demonstrating wearable technologies developed at the HBL, other Harvard labs and Boston-area biotech companies.
