Richard F. ff. Weir, PhD, is President and Co-Founder of Point Designs, a manufacturer of functional yet durable prosthetic options for persons with partial hand amputations. Dr. Weir also directs the Biomechatronics Development Laboratory at CU Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus and holds a Research Career Scientist appointment at the VA. Dr. Weir has been in the field of Prosthesis design and Rehabilitation Research for over 30 years.
Dr. Weir was the Founding director of the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab. Biomechatronics Development Lab. as well as a former instructor at NUPOC where he completed the UL and TT components of the prosthetist’s training and was also National Director of Research at Arm Dynamics for 2 years. Richard received his BAI in Microelectronics and Electrical engineering and BA in Mathematics from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland in 1983, and worked in industry in England as a control engineer automating dairies and breweries before moving to the USA to get his MS and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University (Evanston IL) under the mentorship of Dr. Dudley Childress.
Richard’s research has been focused on the development of advanced prosthetic systems for individuals with limb loss. His research covers all aspects of the problem ranging from neural control and sensing, mechatronic design and development, novel actuator technologies, as well as clinical deployment of these systems.
He and his team have led or been involved with some of the most important upper-limb prosthetics development initiatives of the past few decades such as the the prosthetic arm systems built under both DARPA Revolutionizing Prosthetics initiatives [RP2007 & RP2009]; the Implantable Myoelectric Sensor (IMES) system for control of prosthetic systems that underwent first-in-human trials at Walter Reed Medical Center; and most recently, he and his lab. have been exploring novel ways of using optogenetics to non-invasively optically couple with the peripheral nervous system with the goal of providing enhanced prosthesis sensory feedback and control to users with limb loss. While also developing robust mechatronic artificial finger replacements using our expertise in 3D metal printing to fabricate high strength small parts which resulted in spinning out Point Designs with partners Dr. Levin Sliker, Dr. Jacob Segil, and Mr. Stephen Huddle.