“Trust in people, for people, is what makes my projects successful.”

Mohamed Bouri is a roboticist at EPFL, determined to develop solutions to assist people in their daily life and who cherishes human relations. One of his most renowned projects is the TWIICE exoskeleton to assist paraplegic people in walking, which gained international recognition thanks to the dedicated efforts of paraplegic professional athlete Silke Pan who has won several consecutive medals at Cybathlon competitions in Zürich wearing the smart TWIICE exoskeleton.

“The exoskeleton was initially designed for disabled children. But we had the opportunity to compete at the Cybathlon in Zürich in 2016, and that’s when we met Silke, an extremely talented athlete, who was willing to test our prototype,” recounts Bouri. The technology has been spun-off into a company, also called TWIICE.

The TWIICE robotic structure and circuitry have evolved since inception in 2015, but at the heart of its development is a passion for science that has inhabited Bouri since he was a child. Born in Algiers, Algeria, Bouri knew from a young age that he wanted to learn. His mother was a school teacher, allowing him to enter primary school a year early. Even though he was the youngest of his class, he asked to skip yet another grade because he was “getting bored” with the curriculum. During his studies, he remembers reading with admiration about Albert Einstein for a school project, realizing that science was the key to his quest for knowledge as embodied in the well-known Arab saying that Bouri likes to repeat, “Science, light; ignorance, obscurity.”

The quintessential moment in his teenage years that forever inspired him was coming home and discovering maintenance work being done on the family’s TV screen. “The TV was disassembled, but still functional, and I could see all the circuits, components, intricate details of this elaborate device. I remember thinking that all the elements in there serve a purpose, and I wanted to understand how every piece functioned,” recalls Bouri.

In pursuit of knowledge, Bouri went on to study electrical engineering at the National Polytechnic of Algiers – with the aim of becoming an erudite academic – and where he majored in robot control. He was motivated to explore beyond the borders of his native country.

“In Africa, people are far from continental Europe. We devour books as much as we can, we are filled with hope and motivated to learn. After obtaining my master’s degree, I remember feeling ready to literally explode elsewhere, to confront problems and be in search of challenges,” explains Bouri. That’s when he went to INSA in Lyon for his PhD in industrial automation, researching electropneumatic nonlinear control.

After finishing his PhD, he came to EPFL and became adjoint scientist with now retired robotics professor Reymond Clavel who is an expert in parallel robotics. Looking back on his academic trajectory, Bouri contemplatively says, “I don’t usually think about my past, doing so feels like an escape towards myself. We tend to be overwhelmed and preoccupied by work, and to forget ourselves.”

Now senior scientist at EPFL and leading the research group REHAssist, Bouri explains that he has two major passions in terms of research: gait rehabilitation combining robotic solutions and electrical stimulation: “I am invested in projects that have tremendous potential for having a high impact on society.” Beyond the TWIICE exoskeleton, Bouri is also leading projects to assist children with limited mobility due to cerebral palsy or myopathy; and robotics devices to aid doctors in heart surgery or for intubation, all the while recognizing the importance of teamwork and engineering with the purpose of to help others. Bouri concludes, “Trust in people, for people, is what makes my projects successful.”