Congratulations to Dr. Louis Devillez!

Congratulations to Louis Devillez who successfully defended his PhD thesis on 30 September 2026, under the supervision of Prof. Renaud Ronsse.

Everywhere in the world, people in the world are amputated.
They are losing forever parts of their body.
This has a high impact on either their physical or mental health.
Fortunately, piece by piece, research develops solutions to compensate for their loss.

In his work, Louis is addressing the issue of hip level amputation, an area that remains largely unexplored.
Current external hip prostheses, are simple devices that can only replace lost bone.
However, muscles also need to be replaced, which is why a new generation of prosthetic hips needs to incorporate motors, batteries, and electronics to provide users with better assistance.

The project is highly multidisciplinary, requiring theoretical development, simulations, design, and experimental validation of both the electromechanical design and the control of the prosthesis.
The creation of a physical prototype, requiring all aspects of mechatronics, was made possible by the CREDEM platform and its expertise.

Those who have undergone such amputations have lost so much that researchers still face many challenges.
Unfortunately, no fully satisfying solution exists yet.
However, Louis’s work has led to the development of an active hip prosthesis and control methods that replace the lost leg, allowing individuals to walk again. It has also helped gather data that will be useful for the next stage of research.

Funded through an aspirant researcher fellowship from the  F.R.S. - FNRS, Louis also has helped to train mechatronics students and has shared his passion for science through public outreach, for example at the “Printemps des Sciences” event.

Thanks to a World Excellence Grant from Wallonie-Bruxelles International (WBI), Louis was able to collaborate with the Neurobionics Lab of Elliott Rouse at the University of Michigan to test his hip prosthesis with their Open-Source leg.

Congratulations to Louis and Renaud on this achievement!  Louis has secured a postdoctoral position in which he will work with exoskeletons and continue contributing to the improvement of rehabilitation devices. We wish him every success for the future.

Pictures: Courtesy of the University of Michigan Robotics Department