04/16/2026
A research team led by UW ECE professors Amy Orsborn and Sam Burden has applied game theory to develop a new computational framework for designing co-adaptive neural interfaces — systems that learn alongside and adapt to the user.
Their work opens up new possibilities for wearable and implantable neural devices while offering a new, principled approach to improving human-machine interaction.
"Before this study, we couldn't design co-adaptive neural interfaces from any sort of principled approach. It was always ad hoc," Orsborn said. "But now, if engineers are designing a system where they anticipate learning on the part of the user and in the neural interface, they will have a framework they can use to design that system."
Orsborn is a Cherng Jia and Elizabeth Yun Hwang Professor in UW ECE and the UW Department of Bioengineering. She is a well-known leader in the field of neural engineering, working at the intersection of engineering and neuroscience to develop therapeutic neural interfaces for restoration and rehabilitation of human sensorimotor capabilities.
Burden is a UW ECE associate professor known for his work discovering and formalizing principles of human sensorimotor control, focusing on applications in robotics, neural engineering, and human-AI interaction.
"We're doing human-centered engineering, as opposed to just making a device and then requiring the user to adapt to it," Burden said. "Here, we're making devices that adapt to you."
Pictured: A research participant uses their forearm muscle contractions, with help from a neural interface, to move a cursor (blue dot) toward a target (red dot) onscreen.
Learn more: www.ece.uw.edu/spotlight/game-theory-neural-interface-design
