On October 2nd, 2024, the McKechnie Family LIFE Home opened its doors for a fall open house, inviting visitors to experience firsthand the innovative research happening within the facility. Guests had the opportunity to interact with researchers, advanced technologies, and robotics demonstrations. Faculty, post-docs, graduate and undergraduate students showcased their work, sparking engaging conversations about future possibilities. Among the distinguished attendees included Jim and Karen McKechnie, Dan Fisk, Michael Vitoux, and Jean Driscoll, Assistant Dean for Advancement. The event fostered meaningful exchanges and new ideas, and we are deeply grateful to all who presented and participated.

The McKechnie Family LIFE Home had the honor of welcoming 20 Veterans from the Warrior-Scholar Project to our facility on July 25^th, 2024. These Veterans have been participating in “academic boot camp” where they explore college research in preparation for the beginning of their own university experience.  The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign hosted some activities for them, including a visit to the LIFE Home. During the tour, the Veterans were split into small groups to gain personal first-hand experience with the robots and technology. Two favorites from the tour were our telepresence robot, Ohmni, and our cargo-carrying robot, Gita. It was a privilege to share research highlights with them, and we appreciated their engagement with us. We wish them the best with their upcoming academic ventures!

The McKechnie Family LIFE Home was excited to host a group of middle school students from Oakland STEM camp for a tour on June 18^th, 2024. Outreach and Engagement Specialist of the Midwest Big Data Innovation Hub, J.D. Graham, brought the kids on a field trip to the University of Illinois as a way to explore cutting-edge research. We were honored to be chosen as one of their locations. The students interacted with various robots and got hands-on experience with different interfaces. They especially enjoyed getting to pet Paro, our therapeutic robot, and talking with Moxie, our social robot. Sharing our research and facility with the students was a joy and we hope it inspired them!

On Tuesday, June 18th, 2024, the McKechnie Family LIFE Home staff had the pleasure of welcoming Dr. John Coleman, Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost of the University of Illinois Urabana-Champaign, as well as Dr. Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell, Dean of Applied Health Sciences. This was Dr. Coleman’s first time at the facility. He was delighted to learn about ongoing research and to engage with the technologies. Dr. Coleman and Dr. Hanely-Maxwell shared examples from their lives about potential use cases and ideas for research. We had a wonderful time showing them the activities conducted at our facility!

On April 18th, 2024, the McKechnie Family LIFE Home had the pleasure of welcoming guests for an open house to explore the research conducted at the facility. The attendees interacted with the researchers, robots, and all the technologies. Research demonstrations were given by faculty, post-docs, graduate students, and undergraduate students. The guests included Jim and Karen McKechnie, Michael Vitoux, Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell, Dean of the College of Applied Health Sciences, Susan Martinis, Vice Chancellor of Research and Innovation,  and Jean Driscoll, Assistant Dean for Advancement in the College of Applied Health Sciences, were very impressed by the diverse projects being worked on as well as the technology we have at home. Our open house allowed for lots of ideas to be shared between guests and researchers and introduced people to possible ideas for the future. We are so grateful to everyone who presented as well as those who attended.

Check out this video highlighting the event!

Yvona Vlach joined the McKechnie Family LIFE Home team in April 2024 as our Operations Coordinator. She is responsible for all general office and LIFE Home operations; serves as the first point of contact for clients and visitors; coordinates client reservations and visits of the research center; provides support to the LIFE Home team; and engages with other departments.

The McKechnie Family LIFE Home was pleased to welcome Dr. Chris Wickens during his visit on Tuesday April 16th, 2024. Dr. Wickens is a renowned scientist who has made important and lasting contributions to psychological science. He taught engineering and experimental
psychology, human factors engineering, and aviation psychology for 30 years at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. During his visit, he learned about different projects and technologies at the LIFE Home. He was really impressed by the advancement in the research and innovations to support people with a range of abilities. He shared lots of great research ideas with researchers who came by. We enjoyed showing the technologies at the LIFE Home as well as learning from Dr. Wickens!