UP graduate inspired to bring hope to paraplegics

A young engineer hopes his project can assist those working to restore partial mobility in people with spinal cord injuries. 

Dian Meintjes, 22, who graduated with a bachelor's degree in computer engineering from the University of Pretoria, says he worked on a simplified functional electrical stimulation (FES) system to help paraplegics stand and walk.

“This project required learning about Kalman filtering and biomedical signal processing.” The Kalman filter, an algorithm that refines “noisy sensor data to produce accurate estimations”, helps make the system responsive and precise to “significantly improve the system’s joint angle estimation accuracy when compared with raw sensor data”, he said.

Meintjes also found what he says is a safe, low-voltage method to deliver stable electric currents through electrodes on the skin. This enabled the system to generate “sit-to-stand gait patterns that could be tracked and modified in real-time”.

He believes his system could improve on existing FES technologies by being more adaptive and more affordable. 

“My project aims to address limitations in FES systems by improving their adaptability and reducing their complexity, which will make them more accessible and available for broader use for rehabilitation purposes.”

Now working as a junior embedded software engineer, he is considering pursuing a master's degree in biomedical engineering. 

“I would like to explore advanced rehabilitation technologies or AI-assisted movement prediction and control.”

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