Introduction to Biomedical Engineering

The course is aimed at university-level students of all engineering backgrounds, who would like to learn the basics of modern biomedical engineering, including the development of human-robotic interfaces and systems such as bionic prosthetics. The course is covering the practical basics of almost everything that a modern biomedical engineer is required to know: electronics, control theory, microcontrollers (Arduino), and high-level programming (MATLAB). All covered disciplines do not require any prior knowledge except university-level mathematics and physics. By the end of the course, the students will be able to practically understand and design electronic systems for electrophysiological signal acquisition, connect and program the microcontroller, organise the data transmission between a controller and PC, process the acquired signal and control a simple robot with the acquired signal in real-time. The course is also providing a platform from which the students can improve their skills further by simply adding more complicated systems and experimenting with more advanced control paradigms. Although the course is aimed at engineers, it will be also suitable for anyone who is interested in modern R&D as it teaches the practical concepts which are employed by almost any engineering environments around the world involved in designing and prototyping of new ideas, both in academia and industry. The course was developed by Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University with the support of University College London (UCL).