Micro-Robotics for Surgery
Lead Research Organisation:
Imperial College London
Department Name: Institute for Global Health
Abstract
As minimally invasive surgery is being adopted in a wide range of surgical specialties, there is a growing trend in precision surgery, focussing on early malignancies with minimally invasive intervention and greater consideration on patient recovery and quality of life. This requires the development of sophisticated micro-instruments integrated with imaging, sensing, and robotic assistance for micro-surgical tasks. This facilitates management of increasingly small lesions in more remote locations with complex anatomical surroundings. The proposed programme grant seeks to harness different strands of engineering and clinical developments in micro-robotics for precision surgery to establish platform technologies in: 1) micro-fabrication and actuation; 2) micro-manipulation and cooperative robotic control; 3) in vivo microscopic imaging and sensing; 4) intra-operative vision and navigation; and 5) endoluminal platform development. By using endoluminal micro-surgical intervention for gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, lung and breast cancer as the exemplars, we aim to establish a strong technological platform with extensive industrial and wider academic collaboration to support seamless translational research and surgical innovation that are unique internationally.
Planned Impact
The project addresses effective healthcare impact partnership for device design and innovation. It will catalyse cross fertilisation of the academic disciplines involved with tangible contributions to knowledge transfer and potential clinical impact.
Impacts on Knowledge and Economy
The proposed project addresses an important clinical challenge in precision medicine with well-recognised social-economic values. Knowledge transfer and clinical translation with tangible healthcare outcomes would be an important focus of the project. It is expected that the technologies developed could have significant commercial impact on medical robotics. In addition to publications in respected academic journals and conferences, IPR will be reviewed at each milestone stage and any intellectual property arising will be protected and exploited via Imperial Innovations and in coordination with recommendations from the RSG (Research Steering Group) and EPSRC guidelines. The RSG will also provide critical review and management/technical recommendations to the team, and establish effective dissemination routes to academic and industrial communities. We will work with all stakeholders to identify potential opportunities for public dissemination and commercial exploitation throughout the duration of the project.
Impacts on People
The research staff of this project, particularly those early career researchers, will be encouraged to spearhead and take ownership of blue-sky idea generation with direct clinical interaction. The programme grant will significantly expand the capacity of the research team and create a unique environment involving both engineering and clinical researchers to work in an integrated research environment seamlessly linking different strands of research challenges. By leveraging the flexibility of funding provided by the programme grant, we will empower early career researchers to stimulate creative and adventurous research to ensure the research programme stays at the cutting edge of medical robotics internationally. Secondment to industrial collaborators and clinical partners will be arranged and staff will be encouraged to attend personal and career development workshops and courses provided by the Learning and Development Centre of Imperial College to develop the necessary managerial, vocational and entrepreneurial skills for career progression.
Impacts on Health
The project addresses some of the major issues in healthcare. It tackles the important issue of increased accuracy for cancer detection and direct therapeutic targeting of appropriate pathology. Through the clinical collaborators and industrial partners, the technologies developed will be introduced to patients and clinical communities throughout the development cycle. In partnership with Imperial IGHI's Centre for Health Policy, cost-effectiveness analysis will be conducted to demonstrate cost effectiveness of the technologies to the NHS.
Communications, Engagement and Society
The project team will actively seek opportunities to showcase the project outcomes in public engagement events, such as Imperial Festival, Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition, and organising international workshops and conferences, including our flagship event of Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics, as well as the International Challenge on Surgical Robotics. In addition, the project will work with the UK-RAS Network for broader engagement of the research community and general public. We will work closely with Imperial's IGHI media team to use public lectures/exhibitions to maximise the potential impact of the project and its public engagement to ensure interaction with and exposure of our work to school children, who may wish to pursue a career in robotics.
Impacts on Knowledge and Economy
The proposed project addresses an important clinical challenge in precision medicine with well-recognised social-economic values. Knowledge transfer and clinical translation with tangible healthcare outcomes would be an important focus of the project. It is expected that the technologies developed could have significant commercial impact on medical robotics. In addition to publications in respected academic journals and conferences, IPR will be reviewed at each milestone stage and any intellectual property arising will be protected and exploited via Imperial Innovations and in coordination with recommendations from the RSG (Research Steering Group) and EPSRC guidelines. The RSG will also provide critical review and management/technical recommendations to the team, and establish effective dissemination routes to academic and industrial communities. We will work with all stakeholders to identify potential opportunities for public dissemination and commercial exploitation throughout the duration of the project.
Impacts on People
The research staff of this project, particularly those early career researchers, will be encouraged to spearhead and take ownership of blue-sky idea generation with direct clinical interaction. The programme grant will significantly expand the capacity of the research team and create a unique environment involving both engineering and clinical researchers to work in an integrated research environment seamlessly linking different strands of research challenges. By leveraging the flexibility of funding provided by the programme grant, we will empower early career researchers to stimulate creative and adventurous research to ensure the research programme stays at the cutting edge of medical robotics internationally. Secondment to industrial collaborators and clinical partners will be arranged and staff will be encouraged to attend personal and career development workshops and courses provided by the Learning and Development Centre of Imperial College to develop the necessary managerial, vocational and entrepreneurial skills for career progression.
Impacts on Health
The project addresses some of the major issues in healthcare. It tackles the important issue of increased accuracy for cancer detection and direct therapeutic targeting of appropriate pathology. Through the clinical collaborators and industrial partners, the technologies developed will be introduced to patients and clinical communities throughout the development cycle. In partnership with Imperial IGHI's Centre for Health Policy, cost-effectiveness analysis will be conducted to demonstrate cost effectiveness of the technologies to the NHS.
Communications, Engagement and Society
The project team will actively seek opportunities to showcase the project outcomes in public engagement events, such as Imperial Festival, Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition, and organising international workshops and conferences, including our flagship event of Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics, as well as the International Challenge on Surgical Robotics. In addition, the project will work with the UK-RAS Network for broader engagement of the research community and general public. We will work closely with Imperial's IGHI media team to use public lectures/exhibitions to maximise the potential impact of the project and its public engagement to ensure interaction with and exposure of our work to school children, who may wish to pursue a career in robotics.
Organisations
- Imperial College London (Lead Research Organisation)
- Virginia Tech (Collaboration)
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Collaboration)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Collaboration)
- Celal Bayar University (Collaboration)
- University Medical Center Freiburg (Collaboration)
- Yildiz Technical University (Collaboration)
- Renji Hospital (Collaboration)
- Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (Collaboration)
- University College London (Collaboration)
- Sapienza University of Rome (Collaboration)
- IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON (Collaboration)
- Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) (Collaboration)
- Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (Collaboration)
- Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (Collaboration)
- Franche-Comté Électronique Mécanique Thermique et Optique - Sciences et Technologies (Collaboration)
- Bispebjerg Hospital (Collaboration)
- Medtronic (United States) (Project Partner)
- Breast Cancer Now (Project Partner)
- Intel Corporation (UK) Ltd (Project Partner)
- Biocompatibles (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Tescan UK Ltd (Project Partner)
- Nanoscribe GmbH (Project Partner)
- British Lung Foundation (Project Partner)
- Beating Bowel Cancer (Project Partner)
- Mauna Kea Technologies (France) (Project Partner)
- Auris Health (United States) (Project Partner)
- Karl Storz (Germany) (Project Partner)
- Intuitive Surgical (United States) (Project Partner)
Publications
Abdelaziz M
(2023)
Fiberbots: Robotic fibers for high-precision minimally invasive surgery
Abdelaziz M
(2021)
X-ray to MR: the progress of flexible instruments for endovascular navigation
in Progress in Biomedical Engineering
Anastasova S
(2020)
Electrochemical Monitoring of Subcutaneous Tissue pO 2 Fluctuations during Exercise Using a Semi-implantable Needle Electrode
in Electroanalysis
Bacha S
(2022)
Deep Reinforcement Learning-Based Control Framework for Multilateral Telesurgery
in IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics
Bai W
(2022)
Task-Based LSTM Kinematic Modeling for a Tendon-Driven Flexible Surgical Robot
in IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics
Bai W
(2022)
Anthropomorphic Dual-Arm Coordinated Control for a Single-Port Surgical Robot Based on Dual-Step Optimization
in IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics
Barbot A
(2021)
Microfluidics at Fiber Tip for Nanoliter Delivery and Sampling.
in Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)
Barbot A
(2020)
Liquid seal for compact micropiston actuation at the capillary tip.
in Science advances
Bautista-Salinas D
(2022)
Towards a Functional Atraumatic Self-Shaping Cochlear Implant
in Macromolecular Materials and Engineering
Bautista-Salinas D
(2021)
Integrated Augmented Reality Feedback for Cochlear Implant Surgery Instruments
in IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics
Bautista-Salinas D
(2021)
Towards a Functional Atraumatic Self-Shaping Cochlear Implant
in Macromolecular Materials and Engineering
Berthet-Rayne P
(2018)
The i2Snake Robotic Platform for Endoscopic Surgery.
in Annals of biomedical engineering
Berthet-Rayne P
(2018)
Rolling-Joint Design Optimization for Tendon Driven Snake-Like Surgical Robots
Berthet-Rayne P
(2018)
Inverse Kinematics Control Methods for Redundant Snakelike Robot Teleoperation During Minimally Invasive Surgery
in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
Chen CM
(2020)
Towards Wearable and Flexible Sensors and Circuits Integration for Stress Monitoring.
in IEEE journal of biomedical and health informatics
Chen X
(2022)
Linear displacement and force characterisation of a 3D-printed flexure-based delta actuator
in Smart Materials and Structures
Cursi F
(2022)
Optimization of Surgical Robotic Instrument Mounting in a Macro-Micro Manipulator Setup for Improving Task Execution
in IEEE Transactions on Robotics
Cursi F
(2022)
Task Accuracy Enhancement for a Surgical Macro-Micro Manipulator With Probabilistic Neural Networks and Uncertainty Minimization
in IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering
Cursi F
(2022)
Augmented Neural Network for Full Robot Kinematic Modelling in SE(3)
in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
Cursi F
(2022)
Model Learning With Backlash Compensation for a Tendon-Driven Surgical Robot
in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
Cursi F
(2020)
Adaptive Kinematic Modelling for Multiobjective Control of a Redundant Surgical Robotic Tool
in Robotics
Cursi F
(2022)
GlobDesOpt: A Global Optimization Framework for Optimal Robot Manipulator Design
in IEEE Access
Cursi F
(2021)
Bayesian Neural Network Modeling and Hierarchical MPC for a Tendon-Driven Surgical Robot With Uncertainty Minimization
in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
Dhanda J
(2017)
iKnife Rapid Evaporative Ionisation Mass Spectrometry (REIMS) Technology In Head and Neck Surgery. A Ex Vivo Feasibility Study
in British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Dryden SD
(2021)
Rapid uropathogen identification using surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy active filters.
in Scientific reports
Ezzat A.
(2022)
Portable confocal endomicroscopy for ductal feature characterization: Toward margin assessment in breast-conserving surgery
in The American Society of Breast Surgeons Official Proceedings, Volume XXIII 2022 Annual Meeting Scientific Session Abstracts, Ann Surg Oncol 29 (Suppl 1)
Fujii K
(2018)
Gaze gesture based human robot interaction for laparoscopic surgery.
in Medical image analysis
Gao A
(2020)
Laser-Profiled Continuum Robot with Integrated Tension Sensing for Simultaneous Shape and Tip Force Estimation
in Soft Robotics
Giataganas P
(2019)
Intraoperative Robotic-Assisted Large-Area High-Speed Microscopic Imaging and Intervention.
in IEEE transactions on bio-medical engineering
Gil B
(2022)
Smart implanted access port catheter for therapy intervention with pH and lactate biosensors.
in Materials today. Bio
Gil B
(2020)
Miniaturized Piezo Force Sensor for a Medical Catheter and Implantable Device.
in ACS applied electronic materials
Gil B
(2019)
A Smart Wireless Ear-Worn Device for Cardiovascular and Sweat Parameter Monitoring During Physical Exercise: Design and Performance Results.
in Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
Gil B
(2021)
Low-powered implantable devices activated by ultrasonic energy transfer for physiological monitoring in soft tissue via functionalized electrochemical electrodes.
in Biosensors & bioelectronics
Gil Rosa B
(2022)
Multiplexed immunosensors for point-of-care diagnostic applications.
in Biosensors & bioelectronics
Gras G
(2019)
Context-Aware Modeling for Augmented Reality Display Behaviour
in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
Gu Y
(2019)
Reliable Label-Efficient Learning for Biomedical Image Recognition.
in IEEE transactions on bio-medical engineering
| Description | A custom fibre draw tower was constructed by the team for multi-material fibre production. This has enabled the creation of advanced prototype fibres for medical robotics. A steerable catheter has been developed that will enable dexterous movement within the surgical workspace. The i2snake has been advanced to remove motors from the shaft of the robot, replacing them with narrow bore tendons that enable the diameter of the robot to be reduced whilst increasing its manoeuvrability and increasing force transmission. o Update 2019: Fibre tower was further developed to create helical channels in the fibre which overcomes some of the challenges of tendon driven catheters. 3D printing technology was introduced to improve preform fabrication of various materials (including smart materials) and geometries to draw fibre robots from. 2 patents filed along these developments. Removal of material by laser ablation was utilized to create patterns on fibres making the fibre very flexible to be steered by tendons, and the process resulted in another patent application. The i2snake which forms the proximal part of our nested robot is further advanced resulting in 2 different versions with different dimensions (length and radius), dexterity and degrees of freedom targeting different applications in surgery. A wet transfer process our team developed allows very thin sensors (such as pressure sensors or biosensors) and other thin structures built externally to be transferred with micron precision onto fibres adding these functionalities to the fibres without much increase in thickness. Sensors on a single layer graphene inside which is embedded inside a 3D printed micro-cage with ability to trap the bacteria are manufactured to enhance capacity of our sensors. A probe based Confocal Laser Endomicroscope (pCLE) our team advanced allows getting microscope like images from the end face of bundles of fibres in higher speed, higher resolution and at different colours allowing to see different morphologies simultaneously. On a micro scale, a piston is created that can be moved in the order of tens of microns (fraction of the thickness of a hair) and such controlled motion will be utilized in active micro-grippers. The team has developed the building blocks of the fibre robot mentioned above and is working on integration of these blocks towards a steerable fibre robot that will have improved sensing and imaging capacity compared to current state of art to reach and interrogate distal ends of lumens of the body. o Update 2020: Our team developed a new protocol for simple, effective and reliable fabrication of miniature fibre-optic SERS probes, aiming to aid the diagnosis of lung infections in the near future. The probes use a technique called Raman spectroscopy and are thin enough to be inserted into the body through endoscopes, catheters or needles. This approach is based on a microscale 3D-printing technique known as two-photon polymerisation (2PP), which is commercially available (Nanoscribe GmbH, Germany). A fabrication of biodegradable hydrogel and/or biopolymer materials for 3D printing of fibres has been developed for the creation of a new paradigm in fibrebots and fibre-based medical devices. These fibre devices may be used for the next generation of neuro-regeneration and also as injectable (injected/delivered from the end of a fibre bot) cylindrical fibre-based stents that unfold to reopen/repair damaged or collapsing alveoli/airways located at the small far distal branches of the lung. In order to overcome the complexity of anatomical pathways and the limited dexterity of existing instruments in the endoscopic minimally invasive surgery, our research team designed articulated endoscopic instruments for possible interventions of endobronchial interventions and/or interventional bronchoscopy. A new robotic platform was proposed: the Intuitive imaging sensing navigated and kinematically enhanced (i2Snake) robot that aims to improve the field of endoscopic surgery. The proposed robotic platform includes a snake-like robotic endoscope equipped with a camera, a light-source and two robotic instruments, supported with a robotic arm for global positioning and for insertion of the i2Snake, and a master interface for master-slave teleoperation. The proposed robotic platform design focuses on ergonomics and intuitive control. The control workflow was first validated in simulation and then implemented on the robotic platform. Our research team proposed a robust method for learning the mapping which is able to discard possible outliers in the dataset (outlier detection and rejection for input/output mapping in regression problems) in order to overcome the misinterpreted models, resulting from the current defective outliers of the sensor measurements. The team developed a type of magnetic robots that coated with a thin layer of Nickel and Titanium make them magnetic responsive and at the same time biocompatible the requirements by which they can be manoeuvred through to body after insertion. The tethered microrobots/microactuators are to be fabricated from the same 2PP photoresists so the actuation can be controlled by magnetism, light or chemical gradients. By using electrochemistry, optics and micro fluidic based biopsy, our team aims to realise a fibre-based sensor for biomarker detection to assist and accelerate diagnosis of lung disease during bronchoscopy procedures. Our research team proposed an adapted graph convolutional network (GCN) to predict 3-D partially deployed marker references from 3-D fully deployed marker references, in order to improve the efficiency of the operations and reduce the risks of radiation exposure in fenestrated endovascular aortic repair (FEVAR). The coarsening layers of the original GCN are removed and the softmax function at the network end is replaced with linear mapping for regression. The derived 3-D marker references and the 2-D marker positions are used to instantiate the partially deployed stent segment, combined with the previous 3-D shape instantiation framework. As robot-assisted endobronchial intervention requires accurate localisation based on both intra- and pre-operative data, our research team formulated the bronchoscopic localisation as a learning-based global localisation using deep neural networks. The proposed network consists of two generative architectures and one auxiliary learning component. The cycle generative architecture bridges the domain variance between the real bronchoscopic videos and virtual views derived from pre-operative CT data so that the proposed approach can be trained through a large number of generated virtual images but deployed through real images. The auxiliary learning architecture leverages complementary relative pose regression to constrain the search space, ensuring consistent global pose predictions. Most importantly, the uncertainty of each global pose is obtained through variational inference by sampling within the learned underlying probability distribution. Detailed validation results demonstrate the localization accuracy with reasonable uncertainty achieved and its potential clinical value. o Update 2021: Our researcher proposed a novel concept of implicit human-robot shared control, which means that the human operator can conduct surgical operation with the robot through an intelligent interface. The key components of master-slave mapping are explored, while adaptive mechanism is incorporated to the control framework to improve the efficiency of teleoperation. Context-awareness and human intention recognition are explored to implement an adaptive motion scaling framework, which enhances the surgical operation efficiency. A hybrid interface for microsurgical robot control is proposed to enable the combination of the advantages of different mapping strategies. For dexterous micromanipulation at cellular level, microrobots with complex shape for the implementation of out-of-plane control is investigated, which can serve as a dexterous tool for indirect micro/nano-scale object manipulation. Machine learning based vision tracking techniques for depth estimation and pose estimation are developed for microrobot monitoring during the optical manipulation. Two control strategies for distributed force control of optical microrobots were developed and verified. For smaller micromanipulation platforms that can conduct surgery in microscale, it's challenging to enable precise perception of the micro-tools and dexterous manipulation in 3D space. Therefore, new control strategies and vision techniques are worth to be explored. To develop smarter robotic platforms, machine learning techniques can be incorporated to the control scheme. By combing control commands generated by human operators and machine learning based autonomous control, this novel approach can enable efficient human-robot shared control for surgical operation. Moreover, our research team developed and characterised in terms of electrical on mechanical and electromechanical properties (that conductive composited based on elastomers and carbon-based and silver powders) for stretchable sensors for wearables and robotics. Printing of these inks by using stencil printing are demonstrated and front-end amplifier electronics for tetrapolar impedance measurements are developed. Our researchers also characterised tetrapolar impedance sensors for tissue analysis, developed SERS Raman materials for biosensing, as well as developed method for inkless printing of flexible and stretchable sensors. With regard to micro-manipulation and cooperative control, our research team developed and tested different robotic joint types including rolling joint, gear joint and rough ball joint, aiming to make the size of the robotic surgical instrument going smaller. Kinematic modelling of the miniaturised tendon driven manipulators using traditional and learning-based methods were developed, realising better modelling and control with challenging issues of nonlinearities and hysteresis. As for the work focuses on improving the modelling and control of tendon-driven surgical robots, specifically the Micro-IGES robot, our researchers have developed different machine learning techniques to model and control the system and employed the learnt models to improve the accuracy, precision, and safety of the control. The suturing and knot tying skills of professional surgeons can be transferred to the robotic systems through learn from demonstration. These skills can be further polished through reinforcement learning. Moreover, the nonlinear kinematics of the tendon-driven surgical robotic instrument can be modelled and controlled through the deep neural networks and type-2 fuzzy systems. The navigation and localisation of the tip of the instrument can be conducted through the vision-based approaches. In these approaches, the deep learning based techniques are essential to enhance the images obtained from the camera and improve the performance of the navigation and localisation. In terms of fibrebot design and fabrication, open loop, close loop and real time controls for precise motion electrothermally actuated fibre robot are built. Diagnostic and therapeutic tools are integrated, and tissue mapping is demonstrated. MR safe catheter device integrated with a steering handle built, characterised and found to be mechanically comparable to commercial products (even non-MR safe ones that can use metals). This device is tested successfully under MRI, in phantom and in a pig by our collaborators in Germany. It is also integrated into a pneumatic robotic controller - early-stage results promising. o Update 2022: Our researcher proposed a novel 3D cell culture to model tumour cells. Current catheters are unable to reach to the micro-capillary system and perform intervention, whereas untethered M-bot can be used to deliver drug precisely to the targeted region. It prevents systematic exposure of other organs to the drug. Our researcher used 4T1 cell line as the tumour model, which is a triple-negative breast cancer with continues metastasis. To fabricate these micro-robots, our researcher used 2photon polymerisation technique to fabricate the M-bots, which were then loaded with therapeutic drug. To manoeuvre these M-bots, a magnetic actuation is used, which is a safer method compared to the other types of actuations. The M-bots are made of biocompatible materials. These M-bots degrade over time and don't leave any residue behind. The M-bots were loaded with Doxorubicin, which is a chemotherapeutic drug. The drug loading capacity of our M-bot is up to 250 ug/mL. To model the tumour microenvironment, 4T1 cancerous cells were 3D cultured to form a tumoroids. Following this, Elisa and PCR tests were performed to replicate the tumoroids microenvironment. The tumour's microenvironment was then modelled with 10 folds higher activity and our researcher compared the rate of drug release when M-bots were in saline solution. The drug release has been trigged by tumour microenvironment and following findings have been realised: 1. The drug release is triggered by microenvironment of tumour; 2. The rate of drug release is tuneable; 3. Prolong and steady release of drug up to 400h has been achieved, ideal for perfusion of chemotherapeutic drugs; 4. Minimal leach out of drug in saline solution is a manifesto of high selectivity of drug release mechanism. A micro-capillary system has been replicated to characterise the actuation of the M-bots in a situation similar to the one when the M-bot is moving in the vein or artery. The finding suggested that the micro-robot is able to move against the flow (i.e. in the vein, it can withstand up to 2 mBar pressure) and we can move the M-bot against higher pressure if we apply grater magnetic field. In conclusion, 1. The M-bots are able to reach to a very high velocity (speed) of 1100 µm/s at 2.5 mT; 2. The M-bots are capable of being navigated in upstream and downstream satiations; 3. The M-bots can advance with an average speed of 500 µm/s in opposite direction of fluid with 2mBar pressure. With regard to graphene-based field-effect transistors, our research team designed multiplexed graphene-based field-effect transistors deposited on Si substrates for detection of biomarkers in biological fluids and breath. Graphene-based field-effect transistors (GFETs) fabricated on a silicon substrate, creating an array of 7x2 sensing units with simultaneous back-gate stimulation. Our researchers carried out electrical characterisation of the graphene channel within each sensing unit (in terms of the measured drain-source current (IDS) with applied drain-source (VDS) and gate-source (VGS) voltage signals), making use of time multiplexed sensing and excitation approaches (electronic interface). GFETs array successfully tested with conductivity solutions in the interval between 84 and 1413 uS/cm (physiological range, neutral pH), revealing a conductivity-dependent shift in the charge neutrality point of dry graphene or Dirac point. In addition, the same measurement method and developed materials/platform have also been tested with vapours of clinically relevant volatile organic compounds (VOCs) (e.g., acetone, ethanol, THF, chloroform, styrene, decane, isoprene), enabling their identification based on the variation of the resistance of the graphene channel over time (time measurements), I-VDS curves in the DC and AC mode of VDS excitation and spectral noise analysis in the lower frequency range (< 500 Hz). To conclude, Both VOC detection (for breathomics application) and conductivity/pH level assessment in biological solutions are important biomarkers for diagnosis of some neurodegenerative conditions, as well as cancer, respiratory, infectious, and immunologic diseases. For fibre robot design and fabrication, our research team demonstrated fibre robots that can move with sub-micron precision. our researchers developed the safety and efficacy of the device to a certain level that can be used in surgical settings. The catheters we built by using fibre manufacturing technology were successfully tested in MR guided interventions in animals, and presented great potential for rapid low-cost development of such devices. In terms of the application of micro-fibre robot fabrication, our researcher proposed a novel functional atraumatic self-shaping cochlear implant, aiming to aid patients suffering from hearing loss. It is a pre-curved CI that curls into the cochlea under the influence of body temperature. This pre-curved cochlear implant electrode array can function without external mechanisms with the benefit of miniaturising size that was reduced to straight implant size standards. The breakthrough of this research can be listed as follows: 1. Fabrication method to develop such implant; 2. Measured experimentally and in simulation that implant recovery forces are below the threshold to generate trauma; 3. Shape memory polymer can be modelled in COMSOL Multi-physics to study complex structures; 4. Impedance measurements sensory approach: Found in simulation that impedance measurements from the electrode array contacts can be used to estimate the pose of our implant during insertion. Moreover, our research team carried out experimental and theoretical research (Design, fabrication, testing and modelling) on thermal pneumatic soft actuators for medical robotics. The devices are mainly fabricated by Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) casting on 3D-printed moulds. Actuation performances including actuation stain, temperature, driving voltage and current (for Joule-heating) were measured. Modelling is based on the static and dynamic mechanics models of PDMS and air. The key findings of this research can be concluded as follows: 1. By heating air enclosed in the chamber of a micro soft actuator, the produced pressure led to obvious deformation of the actuator profile. This thermal pneumatic actuation mechanism was used to design micro pneumatic actuators operating without gas pumps, which could minimise the scale and increase the safety of pneumatic actuator systems. 2. The actuation stroke was relatively low when the axial dimension (the direction of expansion and contraction) was comparable with radius dimension. The absolute stoke could be enlarged by increasing the aspect ratio of air chamber (axial dimension/radius dimension), which means it would be suitable for fibre-based micro actuator. 3. The respond speed was slow to thermal stimuli (tens of seconds). To decrease the response, soft composites with higher thermal conductivity were used and the speed was increase obviously. 4. The device could be driven by Joule-heating, which is meaningful for electrical integration. 5. Systematically analysed and compared the properties of various soft actuators for microsystem applications according to different actuation mechanisms, including shape memory polymers/alloys, pneumatic actuators, dielectric elastomers, ionic polymers, piezoelectric actuators and soft magnetic actuators. For robotic learning and control, our research team focused on the optimised design, and the intelligent modelling and control for miniaturised flexible tendon-driven surgical robot manipulators for robots like the Micro-IGES and iSnake. Our researchers proposed the following approaches to tackle current existing challenges: 1. Kinematic parameter optimisation with controversy constraints and kinematic configuration optimisation; 2. Data-driven modelling and control subject to nonlinearities and uncertainties; 3. Task-based autonomy and high level intelligence for surgical robots. The bimanual surgical task, for example, the surgical knot tying can be reconducted by the Yumi robotic system. At first, the skill or task can be demonstrated by the professional surgeon for a couple of time. The movements of the handled suturing device will be recorded through stereo camera and the movement of the joints of the Yumi robot will be calculated through the (inverse) kinematics, and then the joints' trajectories will be optimised through deep reinforcement learning. The research result suggested that the performance of the bimanual surgical task has the potential to surpass the level of the demonstrating surgeons. In addition, the intelligent control of the tendon-driven surgical robotic instrument can be achieved through generative adversarial imitation learning (GAIL). In the GAIL design framework, the control policy can be extracted directly from the kinematics data without knowing the reward functions. Our researchers also investigated approaches to enhance accuracy of modelling and control techniques for tendon-driven systems like the Micro-IGES surgical robot, where nonlinearities caused by the tendon transmission and the complex design cause challenges in the control: 1. Our research team used Recurrent Neural Networks to model and control the robot in a black-box fashion; 2. Probabilistic Neural Networks and optimal control to exploit model uncertainty, and ensure high model confidence during control, thus increasing safety and accuracy; 3. Further developed a novel neural network architecture called AugNet and analysed how incorporating a priori knowledge about system's nonlinearities can help improve model learning in such complex systems. Moreover, our researchers also developed open-source packages (Kalibrot and GlobDesPOt) for optimal robot design. Kalibrot and GlobDesPOt are both open-source Matlab packages, aiming to facilitate the robotics community in easily designing robotic structures for any required purpose and calibrating their design based on the measurements from the actual robotic system. As for deep-learning-based lung navigation, our researcher investigated the navigation and localisation for the lung biopsy. The key findings of this research can be listed as follows: 1. The depth of the images can be recovered by the generative adversarial nets along with the CT model of the lung. 2. When the depth information is restored, the accuracy of the localisation will be improved significantly, and the navigation accuracy will be increased according. In terms of fluorescence microscopy development in breast micro-ductoscope, our researchers designed and developed a flexible miniaturised breast micro-ductoscope to assess the ductal system, in order to improve in-vivo diagnostics, avoid exploratory breast tissue resections and facilitate minimally invasive interventions (e.g. papilloma excision). The probe has been tested on 81 freshly excised breast tissue specimens. Our research team investigated the diagnostic accuracy of high-speed fluorescence microscopy platform namely Line scan confocal laser endomicroscopy (LS-CLE) in determining virtual histology of the ductal system. Our researchers further demonstrated the utility of LS-CLE to provide cellular resolution images of breast ducts, progressing from normal ducts to DCIS and invasive ductal carcinoma in real-time by comparison to conventional histopathology (which is the gold standard). Characteristic morphological features can be visualised at sub-cellular scale and assessed to distinguish normal/benign from neoplastic tissue sites. As for fluorescence microscopy development in urology endomicroscope, our research team presented a high-speed line-scan confocal laser endomicroscope (LS-CLE) system integrated with a miniaturised flexible fibre-bundle of 0.91 mm diameter that can pass through the working channel of the cystoscope and achieve frame rates upto 120 fps, an order of magnitude improvement over commercial Cellvizio p-CLE system. Our researchers demonstrated the utility of LS-CLE to provide real-time cellular resolution images of bladder tissue and to discriminate between normal, benign and malignant urothelium with respect to histologic diagnosis. A preliminary study on 26 freshly excised human bladder specimens was conducted and the research result proved the effectiveness of LS-CLE as a flexible micro-cytoscope in identifying discernible features corresponding to normal, benign and neoplastic bladder urothelium. o Update 2023: A custom portable, easy to use and high-speed confocal endomicroscope was developed by our research team for rapid tissue diagnosis and cancer margin assessment during surgery. Various miniaturised and flexible fibre-based imaging probes with outer diameter ranging from 0.45mm to 2.6mm have been integrated with this system to enable microscopic resolution of tissue surface at confined sites within the body. The imaging system has been advanced to operate at multiple wavelengths to provide combined morphological and molecular imaging at video-rates (currently at 488nm and 660 nm wavelengths). Dual-wavelength confocal endomicroscopy imaging is demonstrated by sequentially switching between 488 nm and 660 nm laser sources for alternate frames, avoiding spectral bleed-through, and providing an effective frame rate of 60 Hz. The two channels are pseudo-coloured and combined, and large-area dual-wavelength mosaics are created by registering and stitching the image frames as the probe moves across the tissue. By staining the tissue specimen with complementary non-specific and molecular fast-acting dye, dual colour images are generated providing morphological and function information about the sample. The endomicroscopy device has been tested successfully in phantoms, ex vivo animal tissue and freshly excised un-fixed human cancer tissues from patients having breast, brain and urology cancer resection surgeries. Our team has formulated a new rapid staining and imaging protocols for endomicroscopy assessment of un-fixed human tissue specimens, aiming to aid real-time intra-operative diagnosis of cancer in a clinical setting. The proposed protocol for imaging at 488nm wavelength consisted of topically staining the tissue surface with acriflavine hydrochloride solution (0.01% in Saline) for 1 minute followed by a gentle wash with PBS saline to remove excess stain for 30s. For 660nm wavelength, methylene blue solution (0.1% in saline) was applied topically to the tissue surface using a pipette and left to stain for 30s followed by a 30s gentle wash with PBS saline to remove excess stain. The tissue is imaged immediately, by scanning the of the endomicroscope probe gently on the tissue surface and scanning videos and images were acquired using a custom lab view GUI. The images were processed to remove the fibre pixelation artefacts using a real-time Delaunay triangulation-based approach and a video mosaicking algorithm using pair-wise cross correlation-based registration was implemented to reconstruct large-area mosaics of the scanned margin surface in real-time. At the end of the imaging procedure, excess dye was gently wiped off the surface of the tissue, and the specimen was returned to histology for routine H&E analysis. The reconstructed mosaics (on an average 3 per scan) from each margin were later correlated with histology slides acquired from the same region to diagnostic accuracy and its potential clinical value. With regard to the developments of multifunctional fibre robots, our research team is working on applying multifunctional fibre robots to a variety of medical applications, such as 1) fabrication of catheters for MR guided endovascular interventions, and for developing Atrial Fibrillation mapping technology; 2) a high precision fibrebot for delivery of diagnostic (mass spectrometry and probe based confocal endomicroscopy) and 3) therapeutic (CO2 laser) surgical instruments, targeting instantaneous intraoperative histological mapping and treatment, some of which has been demonstrated in vivo in porcine models and in a cadaver study. |
| Exploitation Route | This project has the potential to bring many innovations to surgical robotics as it is taking a new approach of developing advanced fibres with integrated actuation, sensing and imaging capabilities. These novel technologies will be applicable to many domains throughout robotics and surgery. Several novel developments are patented. |
| Sectors | Chemicals,Construction,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Electronics,Environment,Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology,Other |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/hamlyn-centre/projects/micro-robotics-for-surgery/ |
| Description | Impacts on Health Several novel developments were proposed by our research team to increase accuracy for cancer detection and direct therapeutic targeting of pathologies. In particular microscopic imaging and spectroscopic biosensing, our research team introduced a novel high-speed line-scan confocal laser endomicroscope (LS-CLE) system that allows for non-invasive real-time 'virtual' histology imaging of whole freshly excised breast and bladder tissue specimens without having to section and fix them. Our preliminary studies demonstrate the potential of using LS-CLE as a flexible endomicroscope in identifying discernible features corresponding to normal, benign and neoplastic bladder urothelium and breast tissue. The preliminary results were published in clinical conferences for doctors' and clinicians' reference, and were reported in various national newspapers in the UK. To tackle the global challenge of antibiotic resistance and to provide more precise treatment of infections, our research team developed a fibre optical sensor for the label-free detection and characterisation of bacteria, along with a new protocol for simple, effective and reliable fabrication of miniature fibre-optic SERS probes. Our research team 3D-printed these micro- and nanostructures on the facet of optical fibres using Two-Photon Polymerization (2PP) (Nanoscribe's 2PP technology). This enables efficient optimisation of the nanometric geometries of the sensor since it is simple, highly automated and parameterised. Moreover, it guarantees high repeatability and reproducibility, crucial for reliable technology translation into a large commercial scale for various clinical applications. Impacts on Knowledge and Economy Our research team carried out numerous experiments and collaborations resulting in around 200 publications, several open-source databases and 8 patents, 7 of which are published and licenced. The patented fibre robot developed under this programme, integrated with diagnostic and therapeutic instruments, is being advanced to achieve semi-autonomous surgery in various clinical indications: Skin cancer (EPSRC THT phase1 EP/W004798/1), Lower GI track (EPSRC THT phase2), cervical cancer (The Eve Appeal). Working together with the leading robotic company Intuitive Surgical, the fibre robot has been successfully tested in a cadaver study for transoral robotic surgery (TORS). The fibre-based catheter technology we developed in this programme is part of the patent (UK Patent Application No GB2205559.4), to be licensed by the company TauRhythm Therapies, which is being incorporated by working together with Imperial Innovations. With regard to micro-manipulation and cooperative control, our research team proposed several miniaturisation design and integration methods and models with a collection of open-source databases to contribute to the robotics community. Our research grant also supported a spun-out company - Precision Robotics (http://www.pruk.ltd/) - to develop modern robotic surgery methods through its unique platforms, which combine a range of patented technologies to deliver advantages to surgeons and patients. Impacts on People The project provided excellent training for several early career scientists and engineers. 30+ researchers worked on / associated with this grant gaining academic / industrial positions across the world. Impacts on Communications, Engagement and Society To showcase our research results, our research team engaged with the public via various media channels and events, such as Imperial Festival, Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition, Lates Science Museum. Our research team also organised a series of workshops each year at the Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics, which is an international event that provides a communication and engagement platform for doctors, clinicians and researchers from hospitals and medical robotic community. |
| Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Electronics,Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| Impact Types | Societal,Economic |
| Description | Molecularly aware robotics for surgery (MARS) |
| Amount | £302,310 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/W004798/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2021 |
| End | 12/2022 |
| Title | 3D cell culture to model tumour cells |
| Description | o Lead researcher of this research method: Dr Meysam Keshavarz o 4T1 cell line were purchased from ATCC. According to the manufacturer's protocol, cells were grown using Roswell Park Memorial Institute (RPMI) medium with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) and 1% antibiotic (pen-strep). cells were cultured using RPMI medium with 20% FBS and 1% antibiotic. Cells were incubated at 37 °C with a 5% CO2 supply. Monolayer cells were trypsinised and centrifuged at 1200 rpm for 5 min to generate spheres from cancer cells. The cell pellet was resuspended and seeded in ultralow attachment plates. The plates were incubated and maintained at 37 °C for 7 days. On alternate days, fresh spheroid medium was added. |
| Type Of Material | Cell line |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | N/A (ongoing work) |
| Title | 3D printing, Origami Procedures and Piezoelectric-Actuation |
| Description | o Lead researchers of this research method: Chen Xu and Prof. Eric Yeatman o The method includes 3d printing to fabricate the mechanical part. Origami procedures provides 3D structure of the part. Piezoelectric benders are used to actuated the mechanical part for motion amplification. The combination of mechanical part and piezo-actuators serves as a manipulator. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Publication (under review): A paper "Delta 3-DoF Origami-Inspired Flexure-based Manipulator" was submitted to IROS 2022. |
| Title | A 3-D Printed Metallic Flexible Joint for Snake-Like Surgical Robot |
| Description | Snake-like robots have numerous applications in minimally invasive surgery. One important research topic of snake-like robots is the flexible joint mechanism and its actuation. Our research team designed and fabricated a new type of flexible joint mechanism that is enabled by metal powder bed additive manufacturing technique. Kinematics and static models of the flexible joint are presented, which can help in designing and controlling the flexible joint. As a compliant mechanism, the fatigue characteristics of the flexible joint is investigated. Finite element analysis (FEA) is performed aiming for optimizing the design process. This research tool/method was developed by Dr Yang Hu, Dr Lin Zhang, Wei Li and Professor Guang-Zhong Yang |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | In the experiment section, model estimation, FEA, and experimental validation are conducted for further understanding the characteristics of the flexible joint. An example design that can survive after 100 000 full loading cycles is demonstrated. In addition, different design variations of the proposed method and a multi-section flexible endoscope using the proposed design are introduced. The proposed flexible joint has the potential not only in reducing the cost of manufacturing and assembling a snake-like surgical robot, but also benefits for developing of more sophisticated three-dimensional snake robotic structure that has an optimized space for embedded sensing and actuation. |
| Title | A Flexible Suturing Robot for Transanal Endoscopic Microsurgery |
| Description | Suturing and knot tying in a confined space is a technically challenging yet clinically demanding task in minimally invasive surgery, which requires the use of highly articulated instruments passing through small incisions on the patient's body. Manually operating such instruments is usually very difficult, so robot-assisted methods have been introduced to reduce the burden of the surgeon. Our team proposed a robotic suturing system for simplifying suturing in a confined space. The main part of the suturing robot is a 6-mm flexible suturing instrument that consists of suturing probe and a customized flexible joint. A novel needle driving and locking mechanism have been proposed. For controlling the suturing robot with teleoperation, the kinematics of the robot and its differential Jacobian as well as inverse kinematics are provided. A working prototype of the suturing instrument is built and integrated into a teleoperated suturing system. Running stitch and knot tying experiments have been conducted to evaluate the robot's feasibility for suturing in a confined space, which mimics the transanal endoscopic microsurgery procedure. This research method/tool was developed by Dr Yang Hu, Wei Li, Dr Lin Zhang and Professor Guang-Zhong Yang |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The most important part of this suturing robotic system for single-port TEMS is a flexible suturing instrument which consists of a needle switching probe and 2-DoF flexible joint. A novel needle driving and locking mechanism have been proposed. For controlling the suturing robot with teleoperation, the kinematics of the robot and its differential Jacobian as well as inverse kinematics are provided. A working prototype of the suturing instrument has been built and integrated into a teleoperated suturing system. Running stitch and knot tying experiments have been conducted to test the suturing robot's feasibility for suturing in a confined space which mimics the TEMS environment. The running stitch experiment shows that the suturing instrument can stitch in a faster and repetitive manner in various suturing orientations. |
| Title | A Graded and Preference Based Bayesian Approach for Gaze-Assisted Adaptive Motion Scaling Optimization |
| Description | A key component to the success of master-slave surgical systems is the quality of the master interface used to relay the surgeon's instructions to the slave robot. In previous work, our research team developed a gaze-assisted intention recognition scheme, allowing the system to dynamically adapt the motion scaling based on where the user is trying to reach. This allowed users to perform tasks significantly more quickly and with less need for clutching. However, the system possessed a number of core parameters that were manually optimized, potentially providing a non-optimal solution depending on the user. Our research team presented a Bayesian approach to the problem of optimizing a human-robot interface in a user-specific manner. Two Bayesian optimization methods are studied: one in which users are asked to grade robot behavior for a given set of parameters, and one where only preference relative to other parameter sets is expressed. This research method was proposed by Dr Gauthier Gras, Dr Carlo Seneci, Dr Petros Giataganas and Professor Guang-Zhong Yang |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The performance of these optimizations is evaluated in a blind comparison user study, demonstrating that the optimized parameters are preferred to the manually optimized ones in over 90 % of cases after only 12 test samples. These parameters are further shown to perform at least as well as the manually optimized ones in all cases, and showing statistically significant improvement in the case of the graded optimization. |
| Title | A NFC-Powered Flexible Chest Patch |
| Description | A battery-less and flexible device to be worn as a chest patch for monitoring cardiac and hemodynamic parameters through electrical and acoustic measurements, combined with sweat pH level estimation and skin temperature, by swiping a smartphone over the patch area for enough time (?5 seconds) to allow adequate acquisition and estimation of the aforementioned parameters. This research tool was developed by Dr Bruno Miguel Gil Rosa, Dr Salzitsa Anastasova-Ivanova, Professor Guang Zhong Yang. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Fast screening of vital signals from patients in ambulatory or emergency scenarios can thus be achieved by this Near Field Communication (NFC) powered device, as well as home or office monitoring for those individuals suffering from diseases affecting the hemodynamic, cardiac and endocrine parameters detected by the proposed technology. |
| Title | A Novel Approach for Outlier Detection and Robust Sensory Data Model Learning |
| Description | In the past few decades machine learning and data analysis have been having a huge growth and they have been applied in many different problems in the field of robotics. Data are usually the result of sensor measurements and, as such, they might be subjected to noise and outliers. The presence of outliers has a huge impact on modelling the acquired data, resulting in inappropriate models. Our research team proposed a novel approach for outlier detection and rejection for input/output mapping in regression problems is presented. The robustness of the method is shown both through simulated data for linear and nonlinear regression, and real sensory data. This research method was developed by Francesco Cursi and professor Guang-Zhong Yang. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The algorithm takes inspiration from online learning and it allows to deal with outliers, and, thus, to have a more robust model learning. The performances of the method have been tested on simulated data for a linear and nonlinear mapping in case of one-dimensional input and one-dimensional output problem. |
| Title | A Reliable Label-Efficient Learning Framework for Biomedical Image Recognition |
| Description | The use of deep neural networks for biomedical image analysis requires a sufficient number of labeled datasets. To acquire accurate labels as the gold standard, multiple observers with specific expertise are required for both annotation and proofreading. This process can be time-consuming and labor-intensive, making high-quality, and large-annotated biomedical datasets difficult. Our research team proposed a deep active learning framework that enables the active selection of both informative queries and reliable experts. To measure the uncertainty of the unlabeled data, a dropout-based strategy is integrated with a similarity criterion for both data selection and random error elimination. To select the reliable labelers, we adopt an expertise estimator to learn the expertise levels of labelers via offline-testing and online consistency evaluation. The proposed method is applied to classification tasks on two types of medical images including confocal endomicroscopy images and gastrointestinal endoscopic images. The annotations are acquired from multiple labelers with diverse levels of expertise. This research method was proposed by Dr Mali Shen and Professor Guang-Zhong Yang |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The experiments demonstrate the efficiency and promising performance of the proposed method compared to a set of baseline methods. Compared to previous work on active learning for medical data, both random errors and expertise errors have been taken into consideration. Our experiments on two medical image analysis tasks demonstrate that the expertise estimator can effectively identify the specific knowledge of each labeler and the similarity-based dropout measurement enables active selection of informative data as well as the elimination of random errors. The clinical significance of the work is that we have developed a systematic yet practical framework for dealing with labeling of ground truth training data for deep learning techniques. The method caters for different levels of expertise, labeling consistency, and random variations. These are important factors to consider for practical applications of CAD as most existing methods tend to treat manually labeled data as the ultimate ground-truth, which of course, is not true. The method allows the selection of both informative queries and reliable experts via offline-testing and online consistency evaluation, thus allowing annotations to be acquired from multiple labellers with different levels of expertise and improving the learning of CAD systems with noisy labels. |
| Title | A carbon-nanotube-coated 3D microspring force sensor |
| Description | Flexible electronic materials combined with micro-3D fabrication present new opportunities for wearable biosensors and medical devices. A novel carbon-nanotube-coated force sensor is developed by our research team. The device employs carbon-nanotube-coated microsprings with varying configurations and geometries for real-time force sensing. This research method was developed by Dr Bing Li, Dr Bruno Gil, Dr Maura Power, Dr Anzhu Gao, Dr Shen Treratanakulchai, Dr Salzitsa Anastasova and Professor Guang-Zhong Yang |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This development successfully combined the advantages of flexible conductive nanomaterials and the versatility of two photon polymerization technologies for creating functional 3D microstructures. To demonstrate its practical value, the device has first been embodied as a patch sensor for transcutaneous monitoring of human arterial pulses, followed by the development of a multiple-point force-sensitive catheter for real-time noninvasive intraluminal intervention. The results illustrate the potential of leveraging advanced nanomaterials and micro-3D-printing for developing new medical devices. |
| Title | A dual-wavelength line-scan confocal endomicroscopy system for rapid molecular imaging |
| Description | Fiber-bundle based confocal laser endomicroscopy combined with fluorescent biomarkers has shown promise for high-resolution imaging of tissue microstructure in vivo and in situ. However, limited image acquisition speed and a restriction to single fluorescence agents (due to single channel excitation and fluorescence collection spectral bands) for most existing systems makes simultaneous visualization of multiple morphological and functional features difficult. Our research team proposed a high-speed dual-wavelength line-scan confocal laser endomicroscopy system suitable for multiplexed molecular imaging applications using 488 nm and 660 nm laser sources. The fluorescent confocal images are captured by a rolling-shutter CMOS camera at a constant frame rate of 120 Hz, with the rolling shutter of the CMOS camera acting as a virtual detector slit. Dual-wavelength imaging is achieved by switching between the laser sources for alternate frames, avoiding bleed-through, and providing an effective frame rate of 60 Hz. This research tool/method was developed by Dr Khushi Vyas, Dr Michael Hughes and Professor Guang-Zhong Yang |
| Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The two channels are pseudo-coloured and combined, and large area dual-wavelength mosaics are created by registering and stitching the image frames as the probe moves across the tissue. Preliminary images with a resolution of 1.2 µm are presented from fluorescently stained phantoms and ex vivo tissue, demonstrating the clinical feasibility of the technique. |
| Title | A flexible/stretchable multiparametric sensing device realized via a commercial process |
| Description | A novel flexible/stretchable device realized via a commercial process. this device is comprised of horseshoe interconnects, electrochemical sensor electrode arrays, a heater for thermotherapy/thermo-regulation, a temperature sensor, electrodes for recording/applying signals to tissues and a bioimpedance sensor. This research method was developed by Dr Panagiotis Kassanos, Dr Florent Seichepine, Dr Dominic Wales and Professor Guang-Zhong Yang. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Electrochemical deposition and characterization of platinum black to the bioimpedance sensor and gold and subsequently IrOx for pH sensing to other electrodes, characterization of the temperature and bioimpedance sensors and heater are presented. |
| Title | A hybrid marker design combining circular dots and chessboard vertices for facilitating tracking cylindrical tools |
| Description | To provide an integrated visualisation of intraoperative ultrasound and endoscopic images to facilitate intraoperative guidance, real-time tracking of the ultrasound probe is required. State-of-the-art methods are suitable for planar targets while most of the laparoscopic ultrasound probes are cylindrical objects. A tracking framework for cylindrical objects with a large work space will improve the usability of the intraoperative ultrasound guidance. A hybrid marker design that combines circular dots and chessboard vertices is proposed for facilitating tracking cylindrical tools. The circular dots placed over the curved surface are used for pose estimation. The chessboard vertices are employed to provide additional information for resolving the ambiguous pose problem due to the use of planar model points under a monocular camera. Furthermore, temporal information between consecutive images is considered to minimise tracking failures with real-time computational performance. This research tool/method was developed by Dr Lin Zhang, Dr Menglong Ye, Dr Po-Ling Chan and Professor Guang-Zhong Yang |
| Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Detailed validation confirms that our hybrid marker provides a large working space for different tool sizes (6-14 mm in diameter). The tracking framework allows translational movements between 40 and 185 mm along the depth direction and rotational motion around three local orthogonal axes up to ±80°. Comparative studies with the current state of the art confirm that our approach outperforms existing methods by providing nearly 100% detection rates and accurate pose estimation with mean errors of 2.8 mm and 0.72°. The tracking algorithm runs at 20 frames per second for 960×540 image resolution videos. |
| Title | A laser-profiled continuum manipulator for the guidance of bronchoscopic instruments |
| Description | Bronchoscopic intervention, as a minimally invasive method for the diagnosis and treatment of lung diseases, has attracted more and more attention in recent years. However, existing endobronchial instruments lack the steerability accessing the peripheral airways with difficult bifurcations. Our research team proposed a novel wire-driven dexterous manipulator for the guidance of such instruments. Precision laser profiling is used to cut a stainless steel tube into multiple interlocked segments with revolute joints. The outer diameter of the manipulator is 2.20 mm which is small enough to be inserted into the working channels of most commercial bronchoscopes and distal airways, while keeping a large inner lumen with a diameter of 1.44 mm for passing various bronchoscopic instruments. The small bending radius provides enough flexibility to navigate inside the complex bronchial tree. Two kinematic models are proposed to predict the manipulator configuration from the translation of actuation wires. The former model is geometrically derived with the assumption of constant curvature bending and the latter one is statistically driven by capturing the motion trajectories of manipulator joints. This research method/tool was developed by Dr Ning Liu, Mohamed Abdelaziz, Dr Mali Shen and Professor Guang-Zhong Yang |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | A prototype of our low-cost add-on instrument guidance robot for bronchoscopic intervention is presented which can be easily integrated into current clinical routine. |
| Title | A micro-scale fiber-optic force sensor produced using direct laser writing (DLW) |
| Description | Fiber-optic sensors have numerous existing and emerging applications spanning areas from industrial process monitoring to medical diagnosis. Two of the most common fiber sensors are based on the fabrication of Bragg gratings or Fabry-Perot etalons. While these techniques offer a large array of sensing targets, their utility can be limited by the difficulties involved in fabricating forward viewing probes (Bragg gratings) and in obtaining sufficient signal-to-noise ratios (Fabry-Perot systems). Our research team presented a micro-scale fiber-optic force sensor produced using direct laser writing (DLW). The fabrication entails a single-step process that can be undertaken in a reliable and repeatable manner using a commercial DLW system. The sensor is made of a series of thin plates (i.e. Fabry-Perot etalons), which are supported by springs that compress under an applied force. At the proximal end of the fiber, the interferometric changes that are induced as the sensor is compressed are read out using reflectance spectroscopy, and the resulting spectral changes are calibrated with respect to applied force. This calibration is performed using either singular value decomposition (SVD) followed by linear regression or artificial neural networks. We describe the design and optimization of this device, with a particular focus on the data analysis required for calibration. This research method was developed by Dr Alex Thompson, Dr Maura Power, and Professor Guang-Zhong Yang |
| Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The force sensing capability is based on the use of reflectance spectroscopy to readout interferometric changes induced as the force sensor is compressed. To extract force measurements from the complex spectral data, we used both SVD-regression analysis and artificial neural networks, obtaining reliable and accurate force prediction in both cases. In some scenarios we observed errors in the optical force prediction, and the most serious of these discrepancies were attributed to differences between the calibration and test data that were not sufficiently detected or accounted for in the training algorithm. In conclusion, we demonstrate proof-of-concept force sensing over the range 0-50 µN, with a measurement error of approximately 1.5 µN. Overall, this work demonstrates the feasibility of the use of DLW for the fabrication of micro-scale dynamic structures for fiber-based sensing. Importantly, this involves a simple and repeatable fabrication protocol that allows for the production of forward viewing probes. |
| Title | A novel approach for stress condition monitoring using disposable flexible sensors |
| Description | By integrating flexible amplifiers with a commercially available flexible polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) mechanical deformation sensor and a pH-type chemical sensor, this proposed system proposed by our research team can detect arterial pulses from the neck and pH levels from sweat located in the back of the body. The system uses organic thin film transistor (OTFT)-based signal amplification front-end circuits with modifications to accommodate the dynamic signal ranges obtained from the sensors. The OTFTs were manufactured on a low-cost flexible polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) substrate using a coater capable of Roll-to-Roll (R2R) deposition. This research tool/method was developed by Dr Salzitsa Anastasova, Dr Bruno Gil Rosa, Dr Benny Lo and Professor Guang-Zhong Yang. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This proposed system can capture physiological indicators and data be interrogated by Near Field Communication (NFC) and has been validated with healthy subjects, demonstrating its application for real-time stress monitoring. |
| Title | A transfer recurrent feature learning framework for endomicroscopy image recognition |
| Description | Probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy (pCLE) is an emerging tool for epithelial cancer diagnosis, which enables in-vivo microscopic imaging during endoscopic procedures and facilitates the development of automatic recognition algorithms to identify the status of tissues. Our research team proposed a transfer recurrent feature learning framework for classification tasks on pCLE videos. At the first stage, the discriminative feature of single pCLE frame was learned via generative adversarial networks based on both pCLE and histology modalities. At the second stage, our researchers used recurrent neural networks to handle the varying length and irregular shape of pCLE mosaics taking the frame-based features as input. This research method was developed by Yun Gu, Dr Khushi Vyas and Professor Guang-zhong Yang |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The experiments on real pCLE data sets demonstrated that our approach outperforms, with statistical significance, state-of-the-art approaches. A binary classification accuracy of 84.1% has been achieved. |
| Title | Accuracy Enhancement for a Surgical Macro-micro Manipulator based on Probabilistic Neural Networks with Uncertainty Minimisation |
| Description | o Lead researcher of this research method: Francesco Cursi o Collaborators: Dr Weibang Bai, Prof. Eric Yeatman and Prof. Petar Kormushev o The method employs Probabilistic Neural Networks from modelling the Micro-IGES robot and optimal control technique to control macro-micro manipulator system consisting of an industrial serial-link arm and the Micro-IGES itself. The controller is capable of ensuring high model confidence, and thus improve motion accuracy and safety. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Improving robot modelling and control, thus enhancing safety in surgical procedures. Publication (under review): this work is currently under submission in IEEE Transaction on Automated Science and Engineering (TASE) |
| Title | An Intraoperative Robotic Device for Large-Area High-Speed Microscopic Imaging and Intervention |
| Description | Probe-based confocal endomicroscopy is an emerging high-magnification optical imaging technique that provides in vivo and in situ cellular-level imaging for real-time assessment of tissue pathology. Endomicroscopy could potentially be used for intraoperative surgical guidance, but it is challenging to assess a surgical site using individual microscopic images due to the limited field-of-view and difficulties associated with manually manipulating the probe. Our research team presented a novel robotic device for large-area endomicroscopy imaging is proposed, demonstrating a rapid, but highly accurate, scanning mechanism with image-based motion control, which is able to generate histology-like endomicroscopy mosaics. The device also includes, for the first time in robotic-assisted endomicroscopy, the capability to ablate tissue without the need for an additional tool. This research tool/method was developed by Dr Petros Giataganas, Dr Michael Hughes, Dr Christopher Payne, Dr Piyamate Wisanuvej, Dr Burak Temelkuran and Professor Guang-Zhong Yang |
| Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The device achieves preprogrammed trajectories with positioning accuracy of less than 30 µm, while the image-based approach demonstrated that it can suppress random motion disturbances up to 1.25 mm s -1 . Mosaics are presented from a range of ex vivo human and animal tissues, over areas of more than 3 mm 2 , scanned in approximate 10 s. Conclusion: This paper demonstrates the potential of the proposed instrument to generate large-area, high-resolution microscopic images for intraoperative tissue identification and margin assessment. Significance: This approach presents an important alternative to current histology techniques, significantly reducing the tissue assessment time, while simultaneously providing the capability to mark and ablate suspicious areas intraoperatively. |
| Title | An image retrieval framework for real-time endoscopic image retargeting |
| Description | Serial endoscopic examinations of a patient are important for early diagnosis of malignancies in the gastrointestinal tract. However, retargeting for optical biopsy is challenging due to extensive tissue variations between examinations, requiring the method to be tolerant to these changes whilst enabling real-time retargeting. Our research team presented an image retrieval framework for inter-examination retargeting. We propose both a novel image descriptor tolerant of long-term tissue changes and a novel descriptor matching method in real time. The descriptor is based on histograms generated from regional intensity comparisons over multiple scales, offering stability over long-term appearance changes at the higher levels, whilst remaining discriminative at the lower levels. The matching method then learns a hashing function using random forests, to compress the string and allow for fast image comparison by a simple Hamming distance metric. This research method was developed by Dr Menglong Ye and Professor Guang-Zhong Yang |
| Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | A dataset that contains 13 in vivo gastrointestinal videos was collected from six patients, representing serial examinations of each patient, which includes videos captured with significant time intervals. Precision-recall for retargeting shows that our new descriptor outperforms a number of alternative descriptors, whilst our hashing method outperforms a number of alternative hashing approaches. Real-time performance also allows for practical integration without disturbing the existing clinical workflow. |
| Title | An optimization framework of a contact-aided continuum robot for endobronchial interventions |
| Description | A laser-profiled continuum robot (CR) with a series of interlocking joints has been developed in our centre to reach deeper areas of the airways. However, it deflects with constant curvature, which thus increases the difficulty of entering specific bronchi without relying on the tissue reaction forces. Our research team proposed an optimization framework to find the best design parameters for non-constant curvature CRs to reach distal targets while attempting to avoid the collision with the surrounding tissue. Methods: First, the contact-aided compliant mechanisms (CCMs) are integrated with the continuum robot to achieve the non-constant curvature. Second, forward kinematics considering CCMs is built. Third, inverse kinematics is implemented to steer the robot tip toward the desired targets within the confined anatomy. Finally, an optimization framework is proposed to find the best robot design to reach the target with the least collision to the bronchi walls. This research method was proposed by Dr Laura Ros-Freixedes, Dr Anzhu Gao, Dr Ning Liu, Dr Mali Shen and Professor Guang-Zhong Yang |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Experiments are carried out to verify the feasibility of CCMs to enable the nonconstant curvature deflection, and simulations demonstrate a lower cost function value to reach a target for the non-constant curvature optimized design with respect to the standard constant curvature robot (0.11 vs. 2.66). In addition, the higher capacity of the optimized design to complete the task is validated by interventional experiments using fluoroscopy. The results of the verification experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework to find an optimized CR with nonconstant curvature to perform safer interventions to reach distal targets. |
| Title | Artificial Neural Networks, Bayesian neural Networks and Model Predictive Control |
| Description | The methods are employed to learn the kinematics model of robots and properly control the system, in order to guarantee accuracy and safety. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The methods are employed to learn the kinematics model of robots and properly control the system, aiming to guarantee accuracy and safety of the robotics system during the operation. |
| URL | https://doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2021.3062339 |
| Title | Augmented Neural Network for Full Robot Kinematic Modelling in SE(3) and SO(3) |
| Description | o Lead researcher of this research method: Francesco Cursi o Collaborators: Dr Weibang Bai, Weiyi Li, Prof. Eric Yeatman and Prof. Petar Kormushev o A novel Artificial Neural Network model to improve model learning |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Novel neural network architecture for robot model learning. The code for the model is open-source. - The work is currently under review in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RAL), 2022. |
| URL | https://github.com/cursi36/AugNet_RobotKinematics |
| Title | Bacteria cage |
| Description | A cage 3D printed by nanoscribe technology able to trap and accumulate bacteria. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | A cage structure enhancing biosensing for the detection of bacteria such as motile bacteria. |
| Title | Confocal laser endomicroscopy for intra-operative cancer tissue diagnosis |
| Description | o Lead researchers of this research method: Dr Khushi Vyas, Daniel Leff, Ranan Dasgupta, and Prof Eric Yeatman o The objective of conducting this research method is to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of high-speed fluorescence microscopy platforms in detecting cancer intra-operatively with sub-cellular resolution by comparison to conventional histopathology. Such systems allow non-invasive real-time 'virtual' histology imaging of whole tissue specimens without having to section and fix them. Characteristic morphological features can be visualised at sub-cellular scale and assessed to distinguish normal/benign from neoplastic tissue sites. We developed a high speed, easy to use and portable confocal endomicroscopy system that could image tissues with 1.2 um resolution at a speed of 120 frames/second. We developed rapid imaging and staining protocols to assess tissue micro-architecture using our developed system and assessed the diagnostic accuracy by comparing the results with histopathology. |
| Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Our research team reported on the diagnostic utility of an in-house developed high-speed line-scan confocal laser endomicroscope (LS-CLE) after expert histopathologist validation. In preliminary analysis, 72 freshly excised human breast tissue specimens were studied for rapid ex-vivo evaluation. Tissue was stained with 0.01% acriflavine hydrochloride dye, then scanned using pCLE (3.5 µm resolution and image acquisition rate of 120 frames/second). Samples were expertly validated against histopathology in a blinded manner. LS-CLE images demonstrated sub-cellular resolution imaging and distinction of normal and cancer tissues characterised by polygonal adipose cells and hyper-fluorescent nucleus morphology and un-organisation respectively. Blinded expert histopathological validation of LS-CLE of breast tissue reported sensitivity of 86.9%, specificity of 91.5%, and an overall 90.3% accuracy. The high sensitivity and specificity were found to be comparable with existing intra-operative techniques including frozen section and imprint cytology (sensitivity of 65%-90% and specificity of 85% to 100%). Moreover, our researchers also extended the technology to image normal and neoplastic urothelium in bladder cancer patients to demonstrate the utility of LS-CLE to provide real-time cellular resolution images of bladder tissue and discriminate between normal, benign and malignant urothelium with respect to histologic diagnosis. A preliminary study on 40 freshly excised human bladder specimens was conducted and the research result proved the effectiveness of LS-CLE as a flexible micro-cytoscope in identifying discernible features corresponding to normal, benign and neoplastic bladder urothelium. Publications: o Khushi Vyas, Eric Yeatman, and Ranan Dasgupta, "Rapid digital histology of urothelial carcinoma using line-scan confocal laser endomicroscopy", Biophotonics Congress: Biomedical Optics 2022 (Translational, Microscopy, OCT, OTS, BRAIN), April 2022. o Khushi Vyas, Ahmed Ezzat, Martin Asenov, Manish Chauhan, Subramanian Ramamoorthy, Animesh Jha, Daniel Leff, "Line-scan Confocal Endomicroscopy for Rapid Digital Histology of Early Breast Cancer", in Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, Technical Digest Series (Optica Publishing Group, 2022), paper ATh4I.7, May 2022. o Ahmed Ezzat, Khushi Vyas, Martin Asenov, Manish Chauhan, Animesh Jha, Subramanian Ramamoorthy, Daniel Leff, "Portable confocal endomicroscopy for ductal feature characterization: Toward margin assessment in breast-conserving surgery", The American Society of Breast Surgeons Official Proceedings, Volume XXIII 2022 Annual Meeting Scientific Session Abstracts, Ann Surg Oncol 29 (Suppl 1), 190 (1148279), April 2022. |
| URL | https://doi.org/10.1364/TRANSLATIONAL.2022.JM3A.46 |
| Title | Controlled drug delivery and sensing |
| Description | We are developing a system with controllable local drug delivery and sampling combining multimaterial fibres, microfluidics, sensor technologies. Researchers with significant contribution: Antoine Barbot, Salzitsa Anastasova, Haijie Tan, Mohamed Abdelaziz, Burak Temelkuran. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | New to have impact, potential use for minimally invasive biopsy and controlled drug delivery. |
| Title | Development of fibre-optic SERS probes using two-photon polymerisation for rapid in vivo detection of bacteria |
| Description | Sensing elements developed on planar substrates and the tip of an optical fibre are demonstrated for rapid bacteria detection. This research method is led by Dr Jang Ah Kim. Internal collaborators: Dr Dominic Wales and Dr Alex Thompson. |
| Type Of Material | Biological samples |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This research can aid rapid in vivo infection diagnosis during minimally invasive interventions in the future to reduce time and cost burdens of diseases. A conference presentation/proceeding was out in 2019 and a journal article was published in 2020. |
| Title | Electrochemical deposition and functionalisation |
| Description | o Lead researcher of this research method/tool: Dr Salzitsa Anastasova o Dr Salzitsa Anastasova is developing sensing assays that are tested in vitro and after validation additional physiological assessment is done for the outcome measures. Additional improvements on the adhesion of the sensors towards the base of the implemented are achieved too. |
| Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Semi-implantable needle oxygen electrodes were used for forearm subcutaneous monitoring in human subjects undertaking high intensity cycling and fist clenching exercise. pO2 variations in the range between 40 and 100 mm Hg oxygen were seen. Superimposed on these were paradoxical rises in subcutaneous pO2, of up to 100 mm Hg which paralleled the scale of the exercise. This was indicative of increased blood flow through skin. Triton X-100 incorporated into the sensor polyurethane membranes helped to give faster responses and reduced the possibility of biofouling and drift. The sterilizable system, free from internal electrolyte film appears promising for future clinical monitoring. |
| URL | https://doi.org/10.1002/elan.202060242 |
| Title | Electronics tethered Microrobots |
| Description | Our team developed Electronics tethered Microrobots for tissue biopsy and for theranostic and regenerative application. The researchers first applied electronic patterning on tethered Micro-robots and designed two-level biphasic high voltage electroporation with simultaneous bioimpedance sensing. Following this, fibre integration of electroporation electrodes will be generated. This research tool is developed by Dr Panagiotis Kassanos, Dr Antoine Barbot and Dr Florent Seichepine |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The development of micro-manipulation and biopsy tools will be potential beneficial to fundamental biology study and micro-biopsy. The final goal is to fully integrate the tools into the continuum robot for the application of the micro-robotics surgery. |
| Title | Experimental and theoretical research (Design, fabrication, testing and modelling) for low-cost multimodal sensors for robots |
| Description | o Lead researchers of this research method: Dr. Mayue Shi and Prof. Eric Yeatman. o The objective of conducting this research method is to develop multimodal sensors for robots. The devices are mainly fabricated using Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), 3D-printed moulds and graphite powder. Actuation performances including actuation strain, temperature, driving voltage and current (for Joule-heating), and the sensitivity of sensors were measured. Modelling is based on the static and dynamic mechanics models. Finite element analysis was used for simulation. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Our research team has demonstrated initial results of low-cost multimodal sensors for robots at IROS2022 conference and developed a microstructure-enhanced vision-based tactile sensor, which will be presented the research result at the Transducers2023 conference. Our researchers are developing micro soft actuator based on this thermal pneumatic actuation mechanism. |
| Title | Experimental and theoretical research (design, fabrication, testing and modelling) of thermal pneumatic soft actuators for medical robotics |
| Description | o Lead researchers of this research method: Prof. Eric Yeatman and Dr Mayue Shi o The devices are mainly fabricated by Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) casting on 3D-printed moulds. Actuation performances including actuation stain, temperature, driving voltage and current (for Joule-heating) were measured. Modelling is based on the static and dynamic mechanics models of PDMS and air. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Our research team is developing micro fibre-based soft actuator based on this thermal pneumatic actuation mechanism. |
| Title | Fabrication of SMP electrode array |
| Description | o Lead researchers of this research method: Daniel Bautista-Salinas and Dr Mohamed Abdelaziz o Methodology to fabricate a shape memory polymer-based cochlear implant electrode array prototype using a thermal drawing approach |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This fabrication method can to fabricate a more flexible polymer-based cochlear implant electrode array. |
| Title | Fabrication of biodegradable hydrogel and/or biopolymer materials for 3D printing of fibres: Poly(ionic liquid)-based materials |
| Description | o Lead researcher of this research method: Dr Dominic Wales |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | N/A (ongoing work) |
| Title | Fabrication of fibre-based IL-8 protein immune-sensor based on functionalised graphene |
| Description | o Lead researcher of this research method: Dr Haijie Tan o Collaborators: Dr Bruno Gil Rosa, Dr Dominic Wales, Dr Antoine Barbot, Dr Bing Li, Mr. Mohamed Abdelaziz, Dr Burak Temelkuran o Our researchers are working on the development of graphene immuno-sensor and its integration on a fibre for application in the lungs to detect inflammation biomarkers. |
| Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Method for fabricating such a tool can potentially lead to functional devices based on new materials that could be applied to in-situ diagnostics of patients |
| Title | Fabrication of stretchable and flexible sensing devices using additive fabrication approaches |
| Description | o Lead researcher of this research method: Dr Panagiotis Kassanos o Collaborator: Dr Dr Meysam Keshavarz o It is a family of methods and tools for the fabrication of stretchable sensing devices, Namely stencil printing and extrusion-based 3D printing for flexible and stretchable sensors using conductive composite elastomeric devices. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | These fabrication approaches allow the fabrication of sensing skins for robots and wearables. |
| Title | Fibre based force sensing micro-gripper using Two Photon Polymerization printing |
| Description | 2-photon polymerization is used to produce a tethered, 3D, compliant grasper with integrated force sensing, the entirety of which is fabricated on the tip of an optical fiber. Optical interferometry combined with artificial neural networks facilitate real-time force estimation during manipulation tasks. Researchers contributed significantly to this project: Maura Power, Alex J. Thompson, Salzitsa Anastasova. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Such grippers could prove useful for the interrogation of biological microstructures such as alveoli, villi, or even individual cells. |
| Title | Fibre based probes with TPP |
| Description | Fibre-based Raman probe and optical tweezer are developed. Integration micro optics on tip of optical fibres (100 ~ 200 um dia.) built by two-photon polymerisation technique, as well as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) structures printed. Researchers with significant contribution: Jang Ah Kim, Maura Power, Salzitsa Anastasova. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Minimally invasive in vivo diagnosis and precise manipulation of cells and drug particles. |
| Title | Fibre based sensing method for diagnostic |
| Description | By using electrochemistry, optics and micro fluidic based biopsy, our team aims to realise a fibre-based sensor for biomarker detection to assist and accelerate diagnosis of lung disease during bronchoscopy procedures. This method is developed by Dr Antoine Barbot, Dr Haijie Tan, Dr Panagiotis Kassanos, Dr Salzitsa Anastasova, Dr Florent Seichepine, Dr Burak Temelkuran and Mohamed Abdelaziz. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | One of the challenges clinicians currently face is not being able to determine exactly which kind of abnormality lungs patients have using conventional bronchoscopes, and conventional biopsy results can usually take up to weeks and even months to obtain. Developing a fibre-based sensing method and tool for rapid diagnostic would be beneficial to the clinical application and compliment conventional bronchoscopes, which lack of such sensing capability. |
| Title | Fibre preform fabrication using 3D printing technology |
| Description | Ability to use 3D printer to print preforms from which fibres will be drawn. Allows introduction of multiple materials and in ways that is not possible by other techniques especially in longitudinally asymmetric structures - patent filed. Researchers with significant contribution: Mohamed Abdelaziz, Burak Temelkuran |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Tapered fibres, fibres with active elements inherintly present at the tip of a fibre device. |
| Title | Floating magnetic microrobots for fiber functionalization |
| Description | Minimally invasive surgery is increasingly used to target small lesions. Therefore, there is a growing demand for miniaturised tools-such as microcatheters, articulated microforceps, or tweezers-that incorporate sensing and actuation for precision surgery. Although existing microfabrication techniques have addressed the construction of these devices, accurate integration and functionalization of chemical and physical sensors represent major challenges. A microrobotic platform for the functionalization of fibers of diameters from 140 to 830 micrometers, with a patterning precision of 5 micrometers and an orientation error below 0.4°. Our research team developed two 2 millimeter-by-3 millimeter, 200-micrometer-thick microrobots to align floating electronic circuits on a fiber during a wet transfer process. The position and orientation of the microrobots were controlled at the air/water interface by a permanent magnet. The stiffness of the position controlled was 0.2 newton millimeter, leading to an average force of 0.5 newton. The nonhomogeneous magnetic field of the magnet, associated with different preferred magnetization directions recorded in the microrobots, allowed the distance between the two microrobots to be precisely controlled. This research method was developed by Dr oine Barbot, Dr Haijie Tan, Dr Florent Seichepine and Professor Guang-Zhong Yang. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This extra degree of freedom was used to control the microrobot pair as a tweezer to grab and release floating electronic patterns, whereas the others were used to align the pattern position and orientation with the fiber. A model of this control, as well as the microrobots' interaction through surface tension, is proposed. Detailed performance validation is provided, and various exemplar sensor embodiments on a 200-micrometer-diameter fiber and three-dimensional devices are demonstrated. |
| Title | GlobDesOpt: A Global Optimisation Framework for Optimal Robot Manipulator Design |
| Description | o Lead researcher of this research method: Francesco Cursi o Collaborators: Dr Weibang Bai, Prof. Eric Yeatman and Prof. Petar Kormushev o An open-source toolbox for optimal robot design based on different optimisation algorithms. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Our research team provides the research community with simple-to-use, open source toolbox for optimal robot design. |
| URL | https://github.com/cursi36/GlobDesOpt |
| Title | Implicit human-robot shared control |
| Description | o Lead researcher of this research method/tool: Dr Dandan Zhang o Our researcher proposed the concept of implicit human-robot shared control, which means that the human operator can conduct surgical operation with the robot through an intelligent interface. The key components of master-slave mapping are explored, while adaptive mechanism is incorporated to the control framework to improve the efficiency of teleoperation. Context-awareness and human intention recognition are explored to implement an adaptive motion scaling framework, which enhances the surgical operation efficiency. A hybrid interface for microsurgical robot control is proposed to enable the combination of the advantages of different mapping strategies. For dexterous micromanipulation at cellular level, microrobots with complex shape for the implementation of out-of-plane control is investigated, which can serve as a dexterous tool for indirect micro/nano-scale object manipulation. Machine learning based vision tracking techniques for depth estimation and pose estimation are developed for microrobot monitoring during the optical manipulation. Two control strategies for distributed force control of optical microrobots were developed and verified. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | 1. Enhances the surgical operation efficiency: Context-awareness and human intention recognition are explored to implement an adaptive motion scaling framework, which enhances the surgical operation efficiency. 2. Enable the combination of the advantages of different mapping strategies: A hybrid interface for microsurgical robot control is proposed to enable the combination of the advantages of different mapping strategies. For dexterous micromanipulation at cellular level, microrobots with complex shape for the implementation of out-of-plane control is investigated, which can serve as a dexterous tool for indirect micro/nano-scale object manipulation. |
| Title | Kinematic modelling for uIGES instrument |
| Description | Endoscopic procedures have transformed minimally invasive surgery as they allow the examination and intervention on a patient's anatomy through natural orifices, without the need for external incisions. However, the complexity of anatomical pathways and the limited dexterity of existing instruments, limit such procedures mainly to diagnosis and biopsies. In order to overcome these obstacles, our research team designed articulated endoscopic instruments for possible interventions of endobronchial interventions and/or interventional bronchoscopy. A new robotic platform was proposed: the Intuitive imaging sensing navigated and kinematically enhanced (i2Snake) robot that aims to improve the field of endoscopic surgery. The proposed robotic platform includes a snake-like robotic endoscope equipped with a camera, a light-source and two robotic instruments, supported with a robotic arm for global positioning and for insertion of the i2Snake, and a master interface for master-slave teleoperation. The proposed robotic platform design focuses on ergonomics and intuitive control. The control workflow was first validated in simulation and then implemented on the robotic platform. This tool was developed by Dr Pierre Berthet-Rayne, Dr Gauthier Gras, Dr Konrad Leibrandt, Dr Piyamate Wisanuvej, Andreas Schmitz, Dr Carlo Seneci and Professor Guang-Zhong Yang |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The proposed system contributes to the field of endoscopic surgical robots and could allow to perform more complex endoscopic surgical procedures while reducing patient trauma and recovery time. |
| Title | Kinematic parameter optimisation and Kinematic configuration optimisation |
| Description | o Lead researchers of this research method: Dr Weibang Bai and Prof. Eric Yeatman o Designing a miniaturised tendon-driven surgical instrument under necessary restraints based on dexterous workspace determination |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Publications: - "Kinematic Parameter Optimisation of a Miniaturised Surgical Instrument Based on Dexterous Workspace Determination" by X. Zhi, W. Bai and E. M. Yeatman, proposes an approach based on dexterous workspace determination for designing a miniaturized tendon-driven surgical instrument under necessary restraints. The work is published in 2021 6th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Robotics and Mechatronics (ICARM), 2021, and received the Best Paper Award Finalist. - "GlobDesOpt: A Global Optimisation Framework for Optimal Robot Manipulator Design" by F. Cursi, W.Bai, E.M. Yeatman, P. Kormushev proposes an open-source toolbox for optimal robot design based on different optimization algorithms. The work is published in IEEE Access 2022. - "Optimisation of Surgical Robotic Instrument Mounting in a Macro-Micro Manipulator Setup for Improving Task Execution" by F. Cursi, W.Bai, E.M. Yeatman, P. Kormushev proposes a novel framework that preoperatively identifies the best base configuration of orientation angles for the micro surgical instrument with respect to the macro serial-link manipulator's end-effector in order to achieve the maximum accuracy and dexterity in performing specified tasks. The work is under submission in IEEE Transactions on Robotics (TRO), 2022. |
| Title | LSTM-Based Kinematic Modelling and Control for a Tendon-Driven Flexible Surgical Robot |
| Description | o Lead researchers of this research method: Dr Weibang Bai and Prof. Eric Yeatman o Collaborators: Francesco Cursi o LSTM-based kinematic modelling approaches with task-based data for a flexible tendon-driven surgical robot to improve the control accuracy. This method utilises Recurrent Neural Networks in a black-box fashion for modelling and controlling tendon-driven robots like the Micro-IGES. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Publications: W. Bai, F. Cursi, X. Guo, B. Huang, B. Lo, G.Z. Yang, E.M. Yeatman, "LSTM-Based Kinematic Modelling and Control for a Tendon-Driven Flexible Surgical Robot", IEEE Transaction on Medical Robotics and Bionics (TMRB), 2021. |
| Title | Laser-Profiled Continuum Robot with Integrated Tension Sensing |
| Description | Our research team proposed the use of optical fibres for both actuation and tension/shape/force sensing. It uses a model-based method with structural compensation, allowing direct measurement of the cable tension near the base of the manipulator without increasing the dimensions. It further structurally filters out disturbances from the flexible shaft. In addition, a model is built by considering segment differences, cable interactions/cross talks, and external forces. This research tool/method was developed by Dr Anzhu Gao, Dr Ning Liu, Dr Mali Shen, Mohamed E.M.K. Abdelaziz, Dr Burak Temelkuran, and Professor Guang-Zhong Yang. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The proposed model-based method can simultaneously estimate the shape of the manipulator and external force applied onto the robot tip. Detailed modelling and validation results demonstrate the accuracy and reliability of the proposed method for the miniaturized continuum robot for endoluminal intervention. |
| Title | Low cost method for mass-produced microfluidics |
| Description | o Lead researcher of this research method/tool: Dr Panagiotis Kassanos o Collaborators: Dr Florent Seichepine, Dr Meysam Keshavarz, Dr Ioannis Kassanos (NTUA, Greece) |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | N/A |
| Title | Low cost method for printed stretchable sensors for wearables and surgical robotics |
| Description | o Lead researcher of this research method/tool: Dr Panagiotis Kassanos o Collaborators: Minghao Hu, Daniel Elabd, Dr Benny Lo, Prof. Eric Yeatman, Prof. Etienne Burdet |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | N/A |
| Title | Magnetic Microrobots for Stem Cell and Drug Delivery |
| Description | The microrobots are small enough to be injected through the blood stream and overcome the impediments of reaching these delicate organs. A cage-like structure of these microrobots coated with a thin layer of Nickel and Titanium make them magnetic responsive and at the same time bio-compatible the requirements by which they can be manoeuvred through to body after insertion. An electromagnetic field will be exploited to guide the microrobots through the body with extreme accuracy. Our preliminarily experiments demonstrated that these microrobots can be successfully loaded with cells and being used as a payload of primary cells to the predetermined target organs. The first generation of this magnetic robots have been successfully fabricated using the commercial photo-resist and been coated with Ti and Ni for magnetic response. On the next step, these microrobots were seeded with HeLa cells and were maneuvered by exploiting a magnetic field. Based on the preliminary results, a need for synthesizing a custom-made photo resist to fabricate these microrobots was determined - since the commercial photo resist has deficient biocompatibility and therefore it has to be coated with metallic deposition. The second generation of this magnetic robots focuses on biocompatibility and an alternative for metallic deposition. Therefore, polyethylene glycol (PEG) based polymer has been used to overcome the biocompatibility issue of the first generation, at the same time magnetic nanoparticles were added into the PEG-based resist to circumvent the need for metallic deposition that hinders the degradation of these microrobots. In the following years, the untethered microrobots will be exploited for targeted delivery of cargoes such as drugs, stem cells and/or other therapeutic agents and the tethered microrobots/microactuators will be used for tissue biopsy at end of the fibres. As for the actuation, the first generation of untethered microrobots is focused on magnetic responsive actuation. We are also developing photo and chemo responsive resists as well - the microrobots will be steered by photo- or chemical gradients. The tethered microrobots/microactuators are to be fabricated from the same 2PP photo-resists so the actuation can be controlled by magnetism, light or chemical gradients. This research method is led by: Dr Meysam Keshavarz Internal Collaborators: Dr Dominic J. Wales, Dr Antoine Barbot and Dr Jang-Ah Kim |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The microrobots designed in this project contains micro-porous that help holding cells, using magnetic fields, that can guided to an organ of interest in the body where cells will start proliferating and regenerating damaged tissues. The first generation of the microrobots are coated with thin layer of nickel and titanium deposition. The nickel allows manipulation of the microrobot using an external magnetic field, while the titanium increases the biocompatibility of the structure, reducing its cytotoxicity. Another notable impact of this project is that our researchers successfully integrated the magnetic nano-particles into the PEG-based resist as well as generated the fabrication of the microrobots. This integration has hampered the feasibility of using microrobots for cell delivery application. |
| Title | Medical robotic design, fabricating, integration and control |
| Description | o Lead researcher of this research method: Dr Weibang Bai o Collaborators: Dr Wuzhou Hong, Dr Andreas Schmitz and Francesco Cursi o Weibang, Wuzhou and Andreas worked together on the updatation of the miniaturised surgical instruments, and developed the control system of the miniature tendon-driven instruments. Weibang and Francesco tried traditional and learning based methods to improve the modelling and control for the tendon driven instruments with nonlinear issues. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | With the exploration in miniaturization of the tendon driven robotic instrument for surgery, we can design more miniature surgical robot, which benefits the development of robotic MIS systems. |
| Title | Micro-manipulation and biopsy tools (cutting tissue, isolating tissue, retrieve tissue) |
| Description | A range of micro-manipulation and biopsy tools have been developed to aim to reach single cell surgery for fundamental biology study and micro-biopsy. This research tool is developed by Dr Antoine Barbot, Dr Hyun-Taek Lee and Dan-Dan Zhang |
| Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The fiberbot approach have the capability to downsize the scale of the tools used in surgery. The development of micro-manipulation and biopsy tools will be potential beneficial to fundamental biology study and micro-biopsy. The final goal is to fully integrate the tools into the continuum robot for the application of the micro-robotics surgery. |
| Title | Miniature pressure sensor made of P(VDF-TrFE) for medical catheter and implantable device |
| Description | o Lead researcher of this research method/tool: Dr Bruno Miguel Gil Rosa o Collaborators: Dr. Bing Li (Department of Brain Sciences, Care Research and & Technology Centre, Imperial College London) o A force sensor made with a PVDF co-polymer was fabricated by Dr. Bing Li using spin-coating, annealing and material deposition techniques, followed by transference to the tip of a medical catheter and implantable device for intrabody and subcutaneous pressure monitoring. The high input impedance of the sensor was interfaced by proper signal conditioning electronics developed by Dr. Bruno Gil and allow real-time pressure readings through the computer or smartphone. The sensor was experimentally tested with synthetic anatomical models for the lungs (bronchoscopy) and subcutaneous tissue, as well as directly above the human carotid and radial arteries. |
| Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The publication was Editor's choice for that issue of the journal (ACS Applied Electronic Materials) and, since the publication date (August 2020), it has become the most read and downloaded manuscript from ACS. |
| URL | https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaelm.0c00538 |
| Title | Model Learning with Backlash Compensation for a Tendon-Driven Surgical Robot |
| Description | o Lead researcher of this research method: Francesco Cursi o Collaborators: Dr Weibang Bai, Prof. Eric Yeatman and Prof. Petar Kormushev o The method employs Artificial Neural Networks with a priori backlash modelling and compensation to analyse how such physical knowledge can help improving robot model learning and control. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Improving robot modelling and control, thus enhancing safety in surgical procedures. - This work is under submission in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RAL), 2022. |
| Title | Model-Based Control Design and Deep Learning Based Methods |
| Description | o Lead researcher of this research method: Dr Bo Xiao o Collaborating with Dr WeiBang Bai for the experiments on the tendon-driven surgical instruments; collaborating with Charlie Tsai for the experiments on the ABB robotic system, collaborating with Dr Stamatia Giannarou (Matina) for the experiments of the lung navigation project. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The experiment hardware is essential to verify the algorithms and lead further research publications. |
| Title | Modelling Micro-IGES Dynamics |
| Description | In the past few decades machine learning and data analysis have been having a huge growth and they have been applied in many different problems in the field of robotics. Data are usually the result of sensor measurements and, as such, they might be subjected to noise and outliers. The presence of outliers has a huge impact on modelling the acquired data, resulting in inappropriate models. Our research team proposed a ''robust'' method for learning the mapping which is able to discard possible outliers in the dataset (outlier detection and rejection for input/output mapping in regression problems) This Research method was developed by Dr Francesco Cursi, Professor Guang-Zhong Yang. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This novel method for outlier detection and rejection for input/output mapping in regression problems is shown both through simulated data for linear and nonlinear regression, and real sensory data. Despite being validated by using artificial neural networks, the method can be generalized to any other regression method. |
| Title | Multiplexed graphene-based field-effect transistors deposited on Si substrates for detection of biomarkers in biological fluids and breath |
| Description | o Lead researchers of this research method: Dr Bruno Gil, Dr Dominic Wales, Dr Haijie Tan o Development of GFET arrays (Dr Haijie Tan) for detection of biomarkers carried by fluids or volatile organic compounds. The developed multiplexed electronic interface (Dr Bruno Gil) then combines electrical measurements in the DC and AC regimes of voltage excitation to fully characterise the different GFET sensing units, in combination with Dirac's point detection, time measurements and spectral noise analysis. A unique setup where VOCs are produced by the vapours of different solvents (Dr Dominic Wales) is used to study their interaction with the GFET array and influence of external factors (e.g., temperature, pressure, flow velocity) in order to optimise the detection capability. Attempts to measure GFETs response to liquids were also made with different physiological solutions (conductivity and pH levels), whereas the same electronic interface is likewise being used with other functionalised GFETs for detection of some disease biomarkers, as described in the collaborations section. |
| Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Conference presentation at the 2021 Biosensors & Bioelectronics Conference, with the title "Graphene-based field effect transistor array for detection of analyte concentrations in solution through impedance measurements". |
| Title | Real-Time 3-D Shape Instantiation for Partially Deployed Stent Segments |
| Description | In fenestrated endovascular aortic repair (FEVAR), accurate alignment of stent graft fenestrations or scallops with aortic branches is essential for establishing complete blood flow perfusion. Current navigation is largely based on two-dimensional (2-D) fluoroscopic images, which lacks 3-D anatomical information, thus causing a longer operation time and high risks of radiation exposure. Previously, 3-D shape instantiation frameworks for realtime 3-D shape reconstruction of fully deployed or fully compressed stent grafts from a single 2-D fluoroscopic image have been proposed for 3-D navigation in FEVAR. However, these methods could not instantiate partially deployed stent segments, as the 3-D marker references are unknown. Our research team proposed an adapted graph convolutional network (GCN) to predict 3-D partially deployed marker references from 3-D fully deployed marker references. The coarsening layers of the original GCN are removed and the softmax function at the network end is replaced with linear mapping for regression. The derived 3-D marker references and the 2-D marker positions are used to instantiate the partially deployed stent segment, combined with the previous 3-D shape instantiation framework. This research method was developed by Dr Jian-Qing Zheng, Dr Xiao-Yun Zhou, Celia Riga and Professor Guang-Zhong Yang |
| Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Validations were performed on three typical stent grafts and five patient-specific 3-D printed aortic aneurysm phantoms. Reasonable performances with average mesh distance errors from 1.0 to 2.4 mm and average angular errors around 7.2° were achieved. |
| Title | Robot learning for control and task autonomy and deep-learning-based lung navigation |
| Description | o Lead researcher of this research method: Dr Bo Xiao o Collaborating with Dr WeiBang Bai for the experiments on the tendon-driven surgical instruments, collaborating with Charlie Tsai for the experiments on the ABB Yumi robotic system, collaborating with Dr Stamatia Giannarou (Matina) for the experiments for the lung navigation project. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The experiment hardware, such as the Yumi robot and the phantom model of lung, is essential to verify the algorithms and lead further research publications. |
| Title | Rolling-Joint Design Optimization for Tendon Driven Snake-Like Surgical Robots |
| Description | The use of snake-like robots for surgery is a popular choice for intra-luminal procedures. In practice, the requirements for strength, flexibility and accuracy are difficult to be satisfied simultaneously. Our research team presented a computational approach for optimizing the design of a snake-like robot using serial rolling-joints and tendons as the base architecture for minimally invasive surgery. The method optimizes the design in terms of joint angle range and tendon placement to prevent the tendons and joints from colliding during bending motion. The resulting optimized joints were manufactured using 3D printing. The robot was characterized in terms of workspace, dexterity, precision and manipulation forces. The results show a repeatability as low as 0.9mm and manipulation forces of up to 5.6N. This research method/tool was developed by Dr Pierre Berthet-Rayne, Dr Konrad Leibrandt, Dr Kiyoung Kim, Dr Carlo Seneci, Dr Jianzhong Shang and Professor Guang-Zhong Yang |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The key technical contributions of the work include a new bi-stable synchronous rolling-joint, a corresponding optimization algorithm that also consider collisions, and a spinal cord architecture with tendon routed in the center of the robot to reduce tendon cross-talk. The model of the rolling-joint for 3D motion is investigated, and the details of the algorithm to optimize the joint parameters are described. The resulting dexterity of the proposed device was studied in detail, demonstrating marked improvements compared to a previous prototype. An optimized joint was manufactured using additive manufacturing and characterized in terms of precision and manipulation forces. The results show manipulation forces up to 5.6 N but will need to be further characterized in a clinical scenario with an outer sheath and tools running inside the robot. |
| Title | Simple methods for plasmonic and non-plasmonic SERS template fabrication |
| Description | o Lead researchers of this research method: Dr Panagiotis Kassanos, Dr Meysam Keshavarz o Collaborators: Dr Florent Seichepine, Dr Jang-Ah Kim |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | N/A |
| Title | Simulation of SMP material |
| Description | o Lead researcher of this research method: Daniel Bautista-Salinas o Modelling of shape memory polymer material in a simulation environment (COMSOL Multiphysics) to analyse complex structures such as cochlear implant electrode arrays. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The simulation data is available online for research community. |
| URL | https://github.com/dan13b/SMP-COMSOL |
| Title | Simulation of impedance measurements |
| Description | o Lead researchers of this research method: Daniel Bautista-Salinas and Dr Panagiotis Kassanos o Modelling impedance measurements from the contacts of a cochlear implant electrode array in a simulation environment (COMSOL Multiphysics) to estimate the pose of our implant during insertion. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Publication: Daniel Bautista-Salinas, Mohamed E. M. K. Abdelaziz, Burak Temelkuran, Eric M. Yeatman, Charlie T. Huins, and Ferdinando Rodriguez y Baena, "Towards a Functional Atraumatic Self-Shaping Cochlear Implant", Macromolecular Materials and Engineering, October 2021. |
| Title | Soft, biodegradable and 3D printed fibres and device-cell interfaces |
| Description | A fabrication of biodegradable hydrogel and/or biopolymer materials for 3D printing of fibres has been developed for the creation of a new paradigm in fibrebots and fibre-based medical devices. This research method is led by: Dr Dominic Wales Internal Collaborators: Dr Meysam Keshavarz, Dr Panagiotis Kassanos, Dr Antoine Barbot, Dr Jang-Ah Kim and Dr Hyun-Taek Lee |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | These fibre devices can be used for the next generation of neuro-regeneration and also as injectable (injected/delivered from the end of a fibre bot) cylindrical fibre-based stents that unfold to reopen/repair damaged or collapsing alveoli/airways located at the small far distal branches of the lung. |
| Title | Steerable fibre robot |
| Description | New fibre manufacturing techniques, novel materials, MEMS are investigated to introduce steerability to fibre catheters. Researchers with significant contribution: Mohamed Abdelaziz, Burak Temelkuran, Salzitsa Anastasova, Michail Kiziroglou. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Ability to steer a fibre with small dimensions will allow our robot to reach distal ends of the lumens of the human body which is among the main goals of this project. |
| Title | Surface Tension for Micro-Gripper Pneumatic Actuation |
| Description | The pistons are fabricated using two-photon polymerization (2PP), and they have an actuation around 20 microns The gas / liquid interface, which occurs around the circumference of the piston, creates a seal that can withstand a pressure of up to 200 mbar. The piston is actuated in an aqueous environment, with the pushing force generated by a microfluidic pump connected to the capillary tube. This design employs one physical phenomenon that works well across scales (pressure induced force) and another that is most prevalent at the microscale (surface tension). |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This design employs one physical phenomenon that works well across scales (pressure induced force) and another that is most prevalent at the micro-scale (surface tension). The proposed actuator could, in the future, serve as the basis for designing tethered micro-surgical tools, such as micro-grippers or local drug delivery systems. |
| Title | Task-based autonomy and high-level intelligence for surgical robots |
| Description | o Lead researchers of this research method: Dr Weibang Bai, Francesco Cursi and Prof. Eric Yeatman o Applying machine learning (AI) from demonstration to transfer operator manipulation skills to robots. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Publications (under review): - "Augmented Neural Network for Full Robot Kinematic Modelling in SE(3) and SO(3)" by F. Cursi, W.Bai, W. Li, E.M. Yeatman, P. Kormushev proposes a novel Artificial Neural Network model to improve model learning. The work is currently under review in in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RAL), 2022. - "Automatic Trajectory Generation for Surgical Robots Based on Generative Adversarial Networks" by Z. Yang, W. Bai, Y. Ren et al. proposes a method to generate trajectories for surgical robotic task autonomy based on Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN), which uses a small number of demonstration samples to create more reliable imitated trajectories for performing the resulted surgical tasks. This work is currently under review in the 14th Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics, 2022. - "Reinforcement Learning for Path Generation for Surgical Robot Maneuver" by J. Chen, Z. Wang, R. Zhu, R. Zhang, W. Bai, B. Lo proposes a path generation method based on reinforcement learning to make full use of Learning from Demonstration as well as reduce the dependence on kinematics data. This work is currently under review in the 14th Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics, 2022. |
| Title | Using deep neural networks for the bronchoscopic generative localisation |
| Description | Robot-assisted endobronchial intervention requires accurate localization based on both intra- and pre-operative data. Most existing methods achieve this by registering 2D videos with 3D CT models according to a defined similarity metric with local features. Our research team formulated the bronchoscopic localization as a learning-based global localisation using deep neural networks. The proposed network consists of two generative architectures and one auxiliary learning component. The cycle generative architecture bridges the domain variance between the real bronchoscopic videos and virtual views derived from pre-operative CT data so that the proposed approach can be trained through a large number of generated virtual images but deployed through real images. This research method was developed by Dr Cheng Zhao, Dr Mali Shen and Professor Guang-Zhong Yang |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The auxiliary learning architecture leverages complementary relative pose regression to constrain the search space, ensuring consistent global pose predictions. Most importantly, the uncertainty of each global pose is obtained through variational inference by sampling within the learned underlying probability distribution. Detailed validation results demonstrate the localization accuracy with reasonable uncertainty achieved and its potential clinical value. |
| URL | https://youtu.be/ci9LMY49aF8 |
| Title | fibres with sensors |
| Description | Low profile fibres with various sensors are developed to interrogate the target region with biofouling prevention. Researchers with significant contribution: Salzitsa Anastasova, Mohamed Abdelaziz, Burak Temelkuran. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Early, easy and low cost detection of disease / infection. |
| Title | flexible continuum robot |
| Description | We are developing several techniques to make a flexible continuum robot from metal structures to polymers with outer diameters around 2mm and inner diameters around 1.4mm or several smaller channels to guide multiple instruments. Laser cutting of nitinol and polymeric fibre drawing and laser machining are methods developed. Researchers with significant contribution to this project: Ning Liu, Mohamed E. M. K. Abdelaziz, Mali Shen, Burak Temelkuran. Update 2019: Laser paterning of polymer fibres achieved flexible tips for fibre diameters as small as 1 mm. A patent is filed (2018). With plastic or glass based tendons, braiding performed inhouse, the resulting fibre catheter reached commercial level, with flexibility of material introduction for MR visibility and other features. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Part of the work is presented this year in conference. |
| Title | i2snake |
| Description | newly designed continuum robot with increased the stability and size of the working channels, an improvement to the existing iSnake. Researchers with significant contribution: Pierre Berthet-Rayne, Andreas Schmitz. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Significant reduction in size and cost compared to similar medical robots. |
| Title | micro-robots |
| Description | Control and fabrication of optically-driven micro-robots for cell manipulation. Researchers with significant contribution: Maria Grammatikopoulou, Salzitsa Anastasova |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Application of developed methodologies for single cell analysis, including cell manipulation, cell property characterization and cell assembly. |
| Title | multi-material multi-functional fibres |
| Description | Methods to fabricate fibres with smart materials, various geometries and functions tailored to unmet needs of medicine. Addition of a motor driven unit allows fabrication of helical channels in a fibre for improving tendon driven structures. Researchers with significant contribution: Mohamed Abdelaziz, Salzitsa Anastasova, Burak Temelkuran. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Fibre robots for medicine, MRI compatible steerable catheters and guidewires |
| Title | pCLE with dual wavelength and increased resolution |
| Description | probe based confocal laser endomicroscope which our team has increased the image acquisition speed significantly to allow large area scan has now 2 added features, improved resolution by added ability to shift the bundle in micron scale, and increased detection capacity by using dual wavelength. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | It allows visibility of different morphological elements that are not always detectable by single wavelength, and with improved resolution to enable to see smaller structures and hence improves ability to identify target tissue such as cancerous ones. |
| Title | Augmented Neural Network for Full Robot Kinematic Modelling in SE(3) and SO(3) |
| Description | A novel Artificial Neural Network model to improve model learning |
| Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Novel neural network architecture for robot model learning |
| URL | https://github.com/cursi36/AugNet_RobotKinematics |
| Title | Dataset for paper: "Induced neural stem cell differentiation on a drawn fiber scaffold-toward peripheral nerve regeneration" |
| Description | This dataset contains the raw data and raw images that were used for the journal publication "Induced neural stem cell differentiation on a drawn fiber scaffold-toward peripheral nerve regeneration". A .txt file is included that states the contents of this dataset. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | To achieve regeneration of long sections of damaged nerves, restoration methods such as direct suturing or autologous grafting can be inefficient. Solutions involving biohybrid implants, where neural stem cells are grown in vitro on an active support before implantation, have attracted attention. Using such an approach, combined with recent advancements in microfabrication technology, the chemical and physical environment of cells can be tailored in order to control their behaviors. Herein, a neural stem cell polycarbonate fiber scaffold, fabricated by 3D printing and thermal drawing, is presented. The combined effect of surface microstructure and chemical functionalization using poly-L-ornithine (PLO) and double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs) on the biocompatibility of the scaffold, induced differentiation of the neural stem cells (NSCs) and channeling of the neural cells was investigated. Upon treatment of the fiber scaffold with a suspension of DWCNTs in PLO (0.039 g l-1) and without recombinants a high degree of differentiation of NSCs into neuronal cells was confirmed by using nestin, galactocerebroside and doublecortin immunoassays. These findings illuminate the potential use of this biohybrid approach for the realization of future nerve regenerative implants. |
| URL | https://data.hpc.imperial.ac.uk/resolve/?doi=7130 |
| Title | GlobDesOpt: A Global Optimization Framework for Optimal Robot Manipulator Design |
| Description | an open-source toolbox for optimal robot design based on different optimization algorithms |
| Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | providing the research community with simple-to-use, open source toolbox for optimal robot design |
| URL | https://github.com/cursi36/GlobDesOpt |
| Title | Raman spectra database |
| Description | The experimental data (Raman spectra) were collected by using a DXR2xi Raman Imaging Microscope (Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA) equipped with OMNICxi Raman Imaging software and a lab-built benchtop Raman spectrometer system including a spectrometer (QE Pro, Ocean Optics, Inc., Germany) equipped with lab-built LabVIEW measurement programme. Raman imaging data were taken by averaging for area of 10 µm x 10 µm sample square (400 spectra) and additionally averaging for nine of the sample squares (3,600 spectra). Data collection using the benchtop system were carried out by recording and averaging 10 to 100 spectra. This research database was collected by Dr Jang Ah Kim (internal collaborators: Dr Dominic Wales and Dr Alex Thompson) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | A conference presentation/proceeding was out in 2019 and a journal article was published in 2020. Details available in the Publications section. |
| Title | Simulation of SMP material |
| Description | Modelling of shape memory polymer material in a simulation environment (COMSOL Multiphysics) to analyse complex structures such as cochlear implant electrode arrays. |
| Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The simulation data is available in GitHub for research community |
| URL | https://github.com/dan13b/SMP-COMSOL |
| Description | 'Biohybrid prosthetic for nerve regeneration based on multi-functional fibre' Clinical Colaboration with Renji hospital in Shanghai |
| Organisation | Renji Hospital |
| Country | China |
| Sector | Hospitals |
| PI Contribution | The Hamlyn Centre is developing a new generation of microfabrication techniques, based on multi-functional fibre could improve the rehabilitation of patient by allowing for the implants to directly reconnect severed nerves. To achieve this, the growth of cultured nervous cells along an implant axes will be induced and enhanced by the mean of topological, electrical and chemical stimulations. A unique set of techniques has been developed in the Hamlyn Centre for the fabrication, functionalisation, electrical connection and fluid delivery capability of fibre designed and realised on site. Those fibres of tuneable diameter and length can be used to meet the requirement of nerve regeneration implants. Our research teams brought our current research results regarding neuro-regeneration, robotic assisted surgery for spinal cord surgery and wearable devices to our collaborators for further discussion. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The collaborators from Renji Hospital offered their advices to our research issues. This collaboration will be used to set up an experimental framework adapted toward our long term goal of in vivo study. |
| Impact | N/A |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | A functional atraumatic self-shaping cochlear implant |
| Organisation | Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Hospitals |
| PI Contribution | Our research team conducted the experiments. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partner gave feedback on clinical relevance, clinical requirements and design requirements. |
| Impact | - Journal contribution: https://doi.org/10.1002/mame.202100620 - Cover highlight: https://doi.org/10.1002/mame.202270002 - Conference poster: https://hamlynsymposium.org/app/uploads/2021/05/HS21Poster_DBS.pdf |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Detection of biomarkers in biological fluids and breath |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Dr. Bing Li (UCL) has been supporting in the fabrication of multiplexed electrochemical sensors deposited on a single silicon array for detection of several biomarkers in neurodegenerative diseases, whereas our research team at the Hamlyn Centre is responsible for providing the multiplexed electronic interface for signal acquisition, processing, and visualization. A post-doc researcher from Prof. Norbert Klein (Dr. Sami Ramadhan, ICL) is developing fast screening tools for detection of biomarkers in cancer diseases and COVID-19 infection, whereas our research team is responsible for providing the multiplexed electronic interface connected to the functionalized GFETs. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Dr. Bing Li (UCL) is designing and functionalizing the electrochemical sensors for detection of lactate, pH, and amyloid biomarkers in biological samples. Dr. Sami Ramadhan (ICL) is involved on the functionalization of GFETs with antibodies for the detection of the spike protein from virus-like-particles of COVID-19 and also specific exosomes from different types of cancer. The cancer cell samples for this latter study are provided by Dr. Bing Li (UCL). |
| Impact | Two review papers on the journals Carbon and Biosensors & Bioelectronics entitled "Clinical detection of neurodegenerative blood biomarkers using graphene immunosensor" and "Multiplexed immunosensors for point-of-care diagnostic applications", respectively. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Development of fibre-optic SERS probes using two-photon polymerisation for rapid in vivo detection of bacteria |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Dr Jang Ah Kim is leading the project by designing experiments; developing protocols; fabricating devices; conducting experiments; collecting, plotting and analysing data; writing papers. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Dr Dominic Wales, who is an internal collaborator at the Hamlyn Centre, contributes to characterisation and improvement of surface chemistry of the developed devices; discussions on the experiments and data analysis; writing papers. Dr Alex Thompson, who is a lecturer in Department of Surgery and Cancer, contributes to designing and building optical systems and devices; providing access to microbiological/clinical samples and facilities; discussions on the experiments and data analysis; writing papers. |
| Impact | A conference presentation/proceeding was out in 2019 and a journal article was published in 2020. Details available in the Publications section. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Development of graphene-based biosensors for the detection of lung disease biomarkers |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Our researcher, Dr Haijie Tan, collaborate with Dr Bing Li (Edmond and Lily Safra Research Fellow, independent PI) from Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London on the development of graphene-based biosensors for the detection of lung disease biomarkers. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Dr Bing Li (Edmond and Lily Safra Research Fellow, independent PI) from Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London works with our research team to develop graphene-based biosensors for the detection of lung disease biomarkers. |
| Impact | N/A |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Development of multiplexed force sensors for the medical catheter |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Our researcher Dr Bruno Gil Rosa collaborates with Dr Bing Li (Edmond and Lily Safra Research Fellow, independent PI), Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London) on the development of multiplexed force sensors for the medical catheter. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Dr Bing Li (Edmond and Lily Safra Research Fellow, independent PI), Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London) works with our researcher to develop multiplexed force sensors for the medical catheter. |
| Impact | Bruno Gil, Bing Li, Anzhu Gao, Guang-Zhong Yang, Miniaturized Piezo Force Sensor for Medical Catheter and Implantable Device, ACS Applied Electronic Materials, 2, 2669, 2020. (ACS Editor's Choice and Most Read of the Year) DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.0c00538 Bing Li, Bruno Gil Rosa, Maura Power, Anzhu Gao, Guang-Zhong Yang. Controllable Fabrication of Carbon Nanotube-coated Micro-spring Pressure Sensor for Medical Applications. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 11, 35577, 2019. (Q1, IF=8.76) DOI: 10.1021/acsami.9b12237 |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Fabrication of fibre-based IL-8 protein immune-sensor based on functionalised graphene |
| Organisation | Franche-Comté Électronique Mécanique Thermique et Optique - Sciences et Technologies |
| Department | Automatic Control and Micro Mechatronic Systems (AS2M) |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Leading by Dr Haijie Tan, our research team works on fabrication of fibre-based IL-8 protein immune-sensor based on functionalised graphene. Dr Haijie Tan contributes to the experimental design, fabrication and integration of the graphene biosensing platform, by coordinating colleagues with expertise from electronics, biology and chemistry. he also helps with interpretation of our experimental results building upon knowledge about semi-conducting materials. Dr. Bruno Gil Rosa develops the sensor platform that is dealing with the signal read-out, processing and communication. Dr. Dominic Wales is responsible for carrying out chemistry-related experiments. Dr. Burak Temelkuran and Mohamed Abdelaziz work on the multi-functional fibre platform and map out the process for drawing of customisable multi-material fibres. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our collaborator, Dr. Antoine Barbot (CNRS researcher at FEMTO-ST INSTITUTE), works on developing a wet transfer platform by utilising magnetic micro-robots for precise wet transfer. Dr. Bing Li (Edmond and Lily Safra Research Fellow, independent PI), on the other hand, develops graphene functionalisation steps for immobilising specified antibodies on graphene. |
| Impact | N/A |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Fabrication of fibre-based IL-8 protein immune-sensor based on functionalised graphene |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Department | Division of Brain Sciences |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Leading by Dr Haijie Tan, our research team works on fabrication of fibre-based IL-8 protein immune-sensor based on functionalised graphene. Dr Haijie Tan contributes to the experimental design, fabrication and integration of the graphene biosensing platform, by coordinating colleagues with expertise from electronics, biology and chemistry. he also helps with interpretation of our experimental results building upon knowledge about semi-conducting materials. Dr. Bruno Gil Rosa develops the sensor platform that is dealing with the signal read-out, processing and communication. Dr. Dominic Wales is responsible for carrying out chemistry-related experiments. Dr. Burak Temelkuran and Mohamed Abdelaziz work on the multi-functional fibre platform and map out the process for drawing of customisable multi-material fibres. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our collaborator, Dr. Antoine Barbot (CNRS researcher at FEMTO-ST INSTITUTE), works on developing a wet transfer platform by utilising magnetic micro-robots for precise wet transfer. Dr. Bing Li (Edmond and Lily Safra Research Fellow, independent PI), on the other hand, develops graphene functionalisation steps for immobilising specified antibodies on graphene. |
| Impact | N/A |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Fibre Robot Animal Study |
| Organisation | Celal Bayar University |
| Country | Turkey |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Our research team brought our fibre robot instrument to be tested in an animal study, |
| Collaborator Contribution | Collaboration with Dr Huseyin Uvet from Yildiz Technical University and Dr Gulsum Gencoglan from Celal Bayar University. They helped organize the animal lab and the study. |
| Impact | The research teams are working on publication. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Fibre Robot Animal Study |
| Organisation | Yildiz Technical University |
| Country | Turkey |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Our research team brought our fibre robot instrument to be tested in an animal study, |
| Collaborator Contribution | Collaboration with Dr Huseyin Uvet from Yildiz Technical University and Dr Gulsum Gencoglan from Celal Bayar University. They helped organize the animal lab and the study. |
| Impact | The research teams are working on publication. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Fibre micro-robot (electrothermally actuated) |
| Organisation | Bispebjerg Hospital |
| Country | Denmark |
| Sector | Hospitals |
| PI Contribution | Our research team develops Fibre micro-robot (electrothermally actuated) in-house, aiming to precise tissue mapping and laser ablation with continuous diagnostics until no tumour detected. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our collaborators provide their professional advices to support our research development. Brain: - Mr Dipankar Nandi, Professor of Practice (Neurosurgery), Department of Brain Sciences, ICL and Neurosurgery Consultant, Charing Cross Hospital - Dr Hanifa Koguna: junior neurosurgeon, ICL Breast - Daniel Leff, Clinical Senior Lecturer, ICL Colorectal - James Kinross, Clinical Senior Lecturer in Colorectal Surgery, ICL Head and Neck - tumour removal / tumour cavity scan - James Higgins - NIHR Doctoral Fellow, ICL Skin - Dr Catharina M. Lerche, senior scientist at Department of Dermatology, Bispebjerg Hospital, University of Copenhagen |
| Impact | N/A |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Fibre micro-robot (electrothermally actuated) |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Our research team develops Fibre micro-robot (electrothermally actuated) in-house, aiming to precise tissue mapping and laser ablation with continuous diagnostics until no tumour detected. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our collaborators provide their professional advices to support our research development. Brain: - Mr Dipankar Nandi, Professor of Practice (Neurosurgery), Department of Brain Sciences, ICL and Neurosurgery Consultant, Charing Cross Hospital - Dr Hanifa Koguna: junior neurosurgeon, ICL Breast - Daniel Leff, Clinical Senior Lecturer, ICL Colorectal - James Kinross, Clinical Senior Lecturer in Colorectal Surgery, ICL Head and Neck - tumour removal / tumour cavity scan - James Higgins - NIHR Doctoral Fellow, ICL Skin - Dr Catharina M. Lerche, senior scientist at Department of Dermatology, Bispebjerg Hospital, University of Copenhagen |
| Impact | N/A |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | M-bots fabrication, characterisation and magnetic actuation development |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Our researcher Dr Meysam Keshavarz works on conceptualisation, methodology, validation, formal analysis, investigation, resources, writing - Original Draft, writing - Review & Editing, visualisation, supervision, project administration, funding acquisition |
| Collaborator Contribution | Collaborators are Dr Jang Ah Kim and Dr Ali Anil Demircali. Dr Jang Ah Kim works on methodology, fabrication, characterisation and Dr Ali Anil Demircali works on magnetic actuation and characterisation. |
| Impact | The research teams are working on publication. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | MIT magnetic robots and low friction materials |
| Organisation | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Our team suggesting applications for the developed magnetic as well as low friction materials MIT team developed under Prof Xuanhe Zhao. |
| Collaborator Contribution | 3D printed magnetic materials and low friction materials. |
| Impact | Collaboration at early stage for any output. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | MR safe steerable catheter |
| Organisation | Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Our research team made the MR safe steerable catheter. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our collaborators, Professor Michael Bock and his team at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, tested this device under MRI in phantom and pig. |
| Impact | A conference presentation with a publication of an extended abstract: To be presented in 2021 ISMRM & SMRT Annual Meeting & Exhibition, abstract to be published in the proceedings. - M. E. M. K. Abdelaziz, L. Tian, T. Lottner, S. Reiss, K. Düring, G-Z. Yang, M. Bock and B. Temelkuran, "An MR Safe Steerable Catheter for MR-guided Endovascular Interventions", Accepted to be published in proceedings of ISMRM & SMRT Annual Meeting & Exhibition 2021. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | MR-Guided Endovascular Interventions |
| Organisation | Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust |
| Department | Imperial College Healthcare NHS Charity |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Our research team develops multi-material fibre steerable catheter and other surgical instruments for MR-Guided Endovascular Interventions. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our collaborators provide their professional advices to support our research development. University Medical Center Freiburg: - Michael Bock (Professor for Experimental Radiology) - Prof. Dr Med. Constantin von zur Mühlen (Chief Senior Physician, Head of Interventional Cardiology) - Prof. Dr Med. Constantin von zur Mühlen (Chief Senior Physician, Head of Interventional Cardiology) - PD Dr Med. Timo Heidt Imperial College London: - Celia Theodoreli Riga (Consultant Vascular Surgeon, Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer) - Colin Bicknell (Clinical Senior Lecturer, Hon Consultant Vascular Surgeon) - Dr Mohamad S Hamady (Honorary Senior Lecturer) |
| Impact | N/A |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | MR-Guided Endovascular Interventions |
| Organisation | University Medical Center Freiburg |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Hospitals |
| PI Contribution | Our research team develops multi-material fibre steerable catheter and other surgical instruments for MR-Guided Endovascular Interventions. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our collaborators provide their professional advices to support our research development. University Medical Center Freiburg: - Michael Bock (Professor for Experimental Radiology) - Prof. Dr Med. Constantin von zur Mühlen (Chief Senior Physician, Head of Interventional Cardiology) - Prof. Dr Med. Constantin von zur Mühlen (Chief Senior Physician, Head of Interventional Cardiology) - PD Dr Med. Timo Heidt Imperial College London: - Celia Theodoreli Riga (Consultant Vascular Surgeon, Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer) - Colin Bicknell (Clinical Senior Lecturer, Hon Consultant Vascular Surgeon) - Dr Mohamad S Hamady (Honorary Senior Lecturer) |
| Impact | N/A |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Material Characterization: novel materials for flexible batteries, oxygen plasma processing, contact angle measurements and mechanical characterisation of devices |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Department | Department of Bioengineering |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Our researcher, Dr Panagiotis Kassanos, collaborates with Chandramohan George (Dyson School of Design Engineering), Rosalia Moreddu (Chemical Engineering), Nuria Oliva Jorge (Bioengineering), Michael Bruyns-Haylett (Bioengineering) for material characterisation on novel materials for flexible batteries, oxygen plasma processing, contact angle measurements and mechanical characterisation of devices. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Dr Panagiotis Kassanos's collaboration with Dyson and Chemical Engineering are focused on material characterisation. The former on sheet resistance measurements of novel materials for flexible batteries and the latter on oxygen plasma processing, contact angle measurements and mechanical characterisation of devices. His collaboration with Bioengineering was first through a Julia Higgins Imperial postdoc research award together with Dr Meysam Keshavarz (another researcher in our team) and currently through a Rosetrees Seedcorn 2020 award as Co-I's for the development of cartilage regeneration technologies. |
| Impact | Publication: 'Scalable Route to Electroactive and Light Active Perylene Diimide Dye Polymer Binder for Lithium-Ion Batteries', ACS Applied Energy Materials, February, 2020. DOI: 10.1021/acsaem.9b01225 |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Medical robotic design, fabricating, integration and control |
| Organisation | Shanghai Jiao Tong University |
| Country | China |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Joint Design: Our researcher, Dr Weibang Bai, developed rough ball joints, Wuzhou developed gear joints, Andreas developed rolling joints. Modelling: Dr Weibang Bai works on traditional DH model and learning based LSTM models for the miniaturized instruments, Francesco Cursi works on traditional DH model and some learning models on Micro-IGES robot arm. |
| Collaborator Contribution | For the joint design and updating, Dr Wuzhou Hong, Dr Andreas Schmitz and Dr Weibang Bai worked together and helped each other to fabricate the instruments and prepare for the integration and test (ended). For the modelling using DH and learning models, Francesco Cursi and Dr Weibang Bai discuss and test the models together (still active). |
| Impact | N/A |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | MicroElectroMechanical Multimaterial fibres |
| Organisation | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Application of fibres to Medical Robotics and Confocal Endomicroscope |
| Collaborator Contribution | Fabrication of fibres with piezoelectric polymers for actuation. They supported EPSRC programme grant "Micro-Robotics for Surgery" application. |
| Impact | Multi-dicipllinary: Materials Science, Engineering, Physics, Robotics, Surgery |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Microfluidics at Fibre Tip for Nanolitre Delivery and Sampling |
| Organisation | Franche-Comté Électronique Mécanique Thermique et Optique - Sciences et Technologies |
| Department | Automatic Control and Micro Mechatronic Systems (AS2M) |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Our research teams collaborate with Dr Antione Barbot on the development of microfluidics at fibre tip for nanolitre delivery and sampling. Our researchers aim to realise a fibre-based sensor for biomarker detection using electrochemistry, optics and micro fluidic based biopsy, to assist and accelerate diagnosis of lung disease during bronchoscopy procedures. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our external collaborator, Dr Antione Barbot (CNRS researcher at FEMTO-ST INSTITUTE), works with our researchers to improve the fibre-optic sensors performance and enhance imaging quality of imaging probes, as well as localise treatment. |
| Impact | Publication: Antoine Barbot, Maura Power, Florent Seichepine and Guang-Zhong Yang, 2020. 'Liquid seal for compact micropiston actuation at the capillary tip', Science Advances, 6(22), eaba5660. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba5660 |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Miniature pressure sensor made of P(VDF-TrFE) for medical catheter and implantable device |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Department | Division of Brain Sciences |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Our researcher, Dr Bruno Miguel Gil Rosa, works on the development of the electronic interface for signal acquisition from the P(VDF-TrFE) sensor, amplification, and transmission to a recording platform (computer, smartphone) through a tethered or untethered (wireless) communication. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our collaborator, Dr. Bing Li (Edmond and Lily Safra Research Fellow, independent PI) works on the development, fabrication, and transference of the P(VDF-TrFE) sensor. |
| Impact | N/A |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Modelling and control of tendon-driven surgical robots |
| Organisation | Sapienza University of Rome |
| Country | Italy |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Our researcher, Francesco Cursi, collaborates with researchers from Sapienza university of Rome on improving the modelling and control of tendon-driven surgical robots. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our collaborators provide their professional advices for supporting our research. |
| Impact | Publication: Francesco Cursi, Valerio Modugno, Petar Kormushev, 2021. Model Predictive Control for a Tendon-Driven Surgical Robot with Safety Constraints in Kinematics and Dynamics, 2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS). |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Multimaterial fibres for biosensing |
| Organisation | Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | (1) Functionalisation of fibres for bio-sensing, animal and clinical studies (2) Design and optical characterization of fibres, applications such as mass spectrometry |
| Collaborator Contribution | Fabrication of fibres with novel metal electrodes (1) or waveguides (2) |
| Impact | they supported EPSRC programme grant "Micro-robotics for surgery" application. There is a patent application (pending) they supported, led by our team. Disciplines involved: Materials science, Chemistry, Physics, Engineering, Microbiology, Surgery |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Neuro interface with multimaterial fibres |
| Organisation | Virginia Tech |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We are working with Prof Xiaoting Jia on advancing the interface to neurons using multimaterial fibre combined with our sensor capabilities. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Her previous work and expertise on neural interface, listening / triggering to single neuron activity with her probes. |
| Impact | This is a multidisciplinary work of physics, chemistry and material science to advance probes for neural interface. Work ongoing, |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Prof Zoltan Takats, Molecularly Aware Robitic Surgery (MARS) |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We contribute with the fibre robot and a fibre-delivered surgical laser. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Prof Takats contributes with his Ambient Mass Spectrometry - iKnife, for intraoperative tissue identification. |
| Impact | The fibre robot developed under this programme, integrated with the diagnostic (iKnife) and therapeutic (surgical laser) instruments, is being advanced to achieve semi-autonomous surgery in various clinical indications: Skin cancer (EPSRC THT phase1 EP/W004798/1), Lower GI track (EPSRC THT phase2 - recently granted), cervical cancer (The Eve Appeal). Working together with the leading robotic company Intuitive Surgical, the fibre robot has been successfully tested in a cadaver study for transoral robotic surgery (TORS). |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Title | A DEVICE |
| Description | A surgical tube having an axis and a wall with an axial channel 345a,b within the wall, the first tube comprising a plurality of interlocking segments 334. The interlocking segments may have axial 338, 340 and tangential 344, 346 interlocks, each having complementary engaging parts. The segments may interlock such that they cannot be separated without breaking. A control tendon may extend through the channel. A second tube may be attached to the first tube and be integral thereto. The second tube may have a spiral channel having a path axis along the tube axis and aligned with the channel in the first tube. The tube is manufactured by drawing of a preform that may be glass or polymer and segmenting the drawn tube. Segmenting may be carried out by laser or mechanical cutting, chemical etching or lithography. The first and second tubes may be drawn in a continuous process. (Images can be found via the patent website) |
| IP Reference | US201917261486A |
| Protection | Patent / Patent application |
| Year Protection Granted | 2020 |
| Licensed | Yes |
| Impact | Bronchoscopy (a clinical routine for lung inspection) is one example of a MIS procedure that can make use of a flexible tubular device. During the procedure, a flexible bronchoscope is inserted through a patient's mouth or nose to examine the interior of their airways. Endobronchial instruments can pass through the working channel of the bronchoscope to perform various functions, for example to take biopsies or deliver implants. It can be challenging for an operator to steer the bronchoscope to peripheral airway regions. A typical bronchoscope can be 6 mm in diameter and restricted from reaching the airways beyond the 4th generation due to the decreasing airway dimensions. These higher generation airways can be accessed by including a flexible tubular device. |
| Title | A DEVICE AND A METHOD |
| Description | A device comprising a bendable fibre comprising a fibre axis, a thermally expandable material and a resistance wire extending longitudinally through the fibre spaced apart from the fibre axis; wherein, in use, electrical power applied to the resistance wire causes the temperature of the resistance wire to increase. |
| IP Reference | GB2021053406W |
| Protection | Patent / Patent application |
| Year Protection Granted | 2022 |
| Licensed | Yes |
| Impact | The present application relates generally to a device formed of a fibre that is both bendable and actuatable and a method of manufacturing such a fibre. The invention may have application in the field of minimally invasive surgery (MIS). MIS procedures pose several challenges to surgeons as they are required to work in small, narrow and/or tortuous spaces inside the body. Small diameter devices, like fibres or scopes, are required to access the specific site that a procedure is to be performed while minimising the size of the incision on the body of the patient. Further, surgeons require the ability to steer a functional tip of the fibre with precise control towards a target area in order to perform therapeutic or diagnostic techniques. The steering may be controlled by a sequence (or robotic control) that allows a surgeon to perform a controlled scanning of a suspicious area (such as a tumour or tumour bed after removal of a tumour) to detect and ablate diseases. The invention may also have application in the field of soft robotics. Soft robots are made from soft, elastic materials and offer unique opportunities in areas in which conventional rigid robots are not viable such as drug delivery, non-invasive surgical procedures, assistive devices, or artificial organs. Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are an attractive option for soft robotic applications, but they require relatively high-actuation voltages which limit their usability in human environments. Known thermal drawing processes start with a preform that is a block of material, from which fibres can be drawn. A preform generally comprises a substantially cylindrical structure, although a preform may comprise any shape. A longitudinal direction, also referred to herein as the draw direction, can be defined as extending through the length of the preform in the direction along which a fibre would be drawn. A radial direction can be defined as extending radially outwardly from, and perpendicular to, an axis extending in the longitudinal direction (longitudinal axis). Preforms have a larger transverse cross-sectional area than the fibres which are drawn from them and the resultant fibre which can be drawn from a single preform can be, for example, one thousand times longer than the original preform. During the drawing of a fibre from a preform, the structure shrinks in the transverse direction of the preform and is elongated in the longitudinal direction (the draw direction). As such, the precise structure of the preform in terms of its composition, its shape, its size and any other features has a significant impact on the resulting fibre. |
| Title | A METHOD |
| Description | A method of manufacturing a fibre comprising a lined channel, using a draw apparatus, the method comprising: providing a preform, comprising a channel extending through the preform, to the draw apparatus; feeding a liner into the channel; heating a portion of the preform; and drawing the heated portion of the preform in order to form a fibre, wherein the liner is held within the channel of the fibre to provide a lined channel within the fibre. |
| IP Reference | GB2021053411W |
| Protection | Patent / Patent application |
| Year Protection Granted | 2022 |
| Licensed | Yes |
| Impact | Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) procedures, such as interventional radiology and cardiology applications, often require devices with multiple lumens (hollow channels) where other medical devices such as guidewires, balloon catheters, and stent catheters are pushed via the tight confines of these empty lumens. If the internal diameter of these lumens is not of sufficient lubricity, it is possible for devices such as stents to collapse in an accordion-like manner as they are being pushed via the catheter lumen. The effect of increased lubricity of these lumens is a reduced deployment force of devices (guidewire, balloon catheters, stent catheters) as they are passed through the lumen, thereby increasing the probability of a successful procedure. In order to ensure sufficient lubricity of these lumens, known catheter manufacture methods use melt or non-melt processable fluoropolymer-based liners in the inner walls of catheter lumens to provide smooth inner surfaces. Lubricity is one of many unique characteristics of fluoropolymers that separates them from other polymers. By means of the present invention, it is possible to manufacture devices with lined channels/lumens by fibre drawing rather than extrusion. In particular, by means of the invention, liners with desired features (lubricity, strength, etc) may be fed into channels formed in a preform that is thermally drawn using a standard drawing apparatus. |
| Title | A METHOD AND PREFORM FOR FORMING A DEVICE COMPRISING A SHAPE MEMORY POLYMER |
| Description | A method of manufacturing a device comprising a shape-memory polymer fibre. The method consists of providing a preform of shape memory polymer, heating the preform and drawing to form a fibre. The preform contains at least one hollow channel extending at least partially through the preform; in some embodiments, the preform contains multiple hollow channels. By rotating the preform about a draw axis, the channels are forced to take on a helical structure. By providing a second preform, also with a hollow channel but where the hollow channel is wider the cross-section of the first preform, a second fibre may be formed around the first. The fibres of the invention may be included in medical devices including cochlear implants. |
| IP Reference | US202017434636A |
| Protection | Patent / Patent application |
| Year Protection Granted | 2020 |
| Licensed | Yes |
| Impact | Manufacturing a device comprising at least a first fibre comprising a shape memory polymer may be particular advantageous for a wide range of applications. By forming the first fibre by way of drawing a preform comprising a shape memory polymer, particular cost savings may be made compared to prior art methods. Thus, a device comprising a fibre comprising a shape memory polymer may be formed more efficiently using a draw method than by other techniques. Prior art methods may require the expensive manufacture of moulds and the application of time-consuming post-processing techniques compared to manufacturing a device comprising a fibre comprising a shape memory polymer by way of a draw technique. In addition, fibres having smaller features or more intricate geometries may be achieved. Some features may be easier to form on a larger scale in the preform from which the fibre is drawn. Because the drawn fibre maintains the structural features of the original preform, improved resolution for features may be achieved compared to techniques which make devices in other ways. In some examples, this may be particularly advantageous where optical or electrical contacts need to be formed within a fibre device. By drawing a fibre from a preform and co-drawing one or more filaments, such as electrodes or optical fibres, through the hollow channels during draw, devices may be formed which are otherwise impractical or highly complex to achieve. In addition, drawing fibres comprising shape memory polymers according to the first aspect may provide for a scalable approach for forming devices which may not be achievable by additive manufacturing. By way of example only, 100 metres of fibre or more may be drawn using the present technique in short period, whereas 10 cm of a fibre may be printed by additive manufacturing in a similar time-frame. When compared to extrusion techniques, features such as helically arranged hollow channels or other features may not be achievable by those techniques. Thus, the method according to the first aspect may be particularly advantageous and provide for benefits which may not otherwise all be achievable by any other single technique. |
| Title | A SENSOR |
| Description | A sensor comprising an inlet and an outlet, a sensing chamber positioned between the inlet and the outlet, and a sensing element operatively connected to the sensing chamber, wherein the sensor comprises a first fibre formed from a drawable material, the fibre comprising a first channel extending between the inlet and the outlet, the sensing chamber being formed within the channel. |
| IP Reference | WO2020234579 |
| Protection | Patent / Patent application |
| Year Protection Granted | 2020 |
| Licensed | Yes |
| Impact | This invention relates to a sensor, and particularly, but not exclusively, to a sensor having combined electrical and optical sensors for use in in - vivo sensing. A sensor of this type has particular application in the field of diagnostics. Sensors of this type are suitable for detecting diseases such as those identified below, although its to be understood that sensors of this type could be used in other applications. Such a sensor has application in the respiratory system of a human or animal. Diseases such as pneumonia, both typical and atypical, lung cancers, chronic pulmonary disease (COPD, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis), cystic fibrosis, asthma, tuberculosis, bronchiectasis, sarcoidosis and other diseases may be diagnosed using sensors of this type. In the urinary tract, urethral cancers, bladder cancers, ureter cancers, kidney cancers, pyelonephritis, urinary tract infection and other diseases may be diagnosed. According to a est aspect of the invention there is provided a sensor comprising an inlet and an outlet , a sensing chamber positioned between the inlet and the outlet, and a sensing element operatively connected to the sensing chamber, wherein the sensor comprises a first fibre formed from a drawable material, the fibre comprising a first channel extending between the inlet and the outlet, the sensing chamber being formed within the channel. By means of the present invention it is possible to carry out diagnostic tests in - vivo. |
| Title | FIBRE BASED SENSOR INCORPORATING ELECTROCHEMICAL SENSING |
| Description | A sensor 20 comprising an elongate member which comprises a fibre formed of a drawable material, and an electrochemical filament 10 extending along the length of the member. There may also be an optical sensor comprising an optical filament along the length of the member. The drawable material may be an amorphous thermoplastic. The sensor filaments may have at least one exposed area, which may be at the distal end of, side and/or inside the member. There may be a plurality of electrochemical and/or optical filaments. The electrochemical filament may be an electrode, which may be a working 8, auxiliary 10 or reference 12 electrode. Embodiments of this sensor are suitable for recognition of biological materials or analysing ions, enzymes or metabolites. |
| IP Reference | US202017442260A |
| Protection | Patent / Patent application |
| Year Protection Granted | 2022 |
| Licensed | Yes |
| Impact | This invention relates to a sensor, and particularly, but not exclusively to a fibre based sensor incorporating electrochemical sensing. The invention also relates to a fibre based electrochemical sensor incorporating optical sensing. A fibre based sensor having electrochemical or both electrochemical and optical sensors incorporated within the fibre may find particular application within the medical arena although other applications are also envisaged. Such a sensor may be used for diagnostic purposes. |
| Title | LONGITUDINALLY NON-UNIFORM PREFORM AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME |
| Description | A preform 300 for drawing fibres therefrom formed of at least a first material and having anon-uniform structure in the longitudinal direction and a method of forming the same. The preform may comprise at least one of multiple different materials 306, 307, one or more hollow portions 308, varying width or cross section. The hollow portions may be enclosed by the preform or extend to at least one surface; they my further comprise a helical channel. The fibre drawn from the preform may comprise at least one steerable portion by virtue of its materials providing flexibility. One of the materials may comprise a magnetic material. At leas tone of the materials may comprise a stiffness tuneable material, ferromagnetic polymer, polycarbonate, poly (methyl methacrylate) PMMA, polyetherimide, cyclic olefin copolymer (COC), poly(styrene-block-butadiene-block-styrene)(SEBS), cyclic olefin copolymer elastomer (COC-E) and polysulfone. The materials may comprise one of a conducting a material and a polymer loaded with conducting material. The preform may be a 3D printed form. A fibre drawn from the preform is further claimed. |
| IP Reference | US202017434683A |
| Protection | Patent / Patent application |
| Year Protection Granted | 2020 |
| Licensed | Yes |
| Impact | A preform according to the first aspect of the invention may be particularly advantageous, as the fibres resultant from drawing such a preform will have a corresponding non-uniform structure in their respective longitudinal axes. A range of fibres having different beneficial applications may be produced from preforms having different types of non-uniform structure. Providing a preform having a structure according to the first aspect of the invention may reduce the number or complexity of post processing steps which need to be performed on resultant fibres drawn from the preform. Preforms according to the first aspect of the invention may also assist in manufacturing fibres which may be challenging or impossible to form in any other way due to the dimensional constraints and difficulties in working on drawn fibres. |
| Title | Low temperature fibre draw tower |
| Description | The custom made fibre tower we built gives us the unique capacity to co-draw multiple materials with different functionalities into a single fibre for medicine. The field is new and the potential is unique, and our research spans a wide range from bio-sensors (current EPSRC programme grant) to fibre robots (new EPSRC programme grant Micro-Robotics for Surgery) |
| Type Of Technology | New/Improved Technique/Technology |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Impact | This equipment will enable us to fabricate fibres with various integrated functionalities. In addition to optical interface with the tip of the fibre that conventional fibres offer, these multimaterial fibres allow other means of communication with the sensors at the tip, such as electrical interface with metal elements in the fibre, and fluidic interface via micro-channels, all integrated into a single fibre. These fibres will help integrate and miniaturize multiple sensors, allow drug delivery, and will significantly enhance overall functionality of our sensors in this project. The emerging field of multimaterial fibers presents exciting opportunities and has potential to create many fundamental research areas |
| Title | Manuscript code |
| Description | The current folder contains the execution script for the cancer classification (CA) algorithm developed in Matlab software (Mathworks Inc., USA), along with exemplary datasets in Excel (Microsoft, USA) format containing real data collected and processed inside the manuscript. Moreover, the folder contains a sub-folder called "Origin files", where most of the files involved in the generation of the figures for the Results section reside, together with the statistics obtained for Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of the spectra for the tested exosomes. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| URL | https://figshare.com/articles/software/Manuscript_code/22060640/2 |
| Title | Manuscript code |
| Description | The current folder contains the execution script for the cancer classification (CA) algorithm developed in Matlab software (Mathworks Inc., USA), along with exemplary datasets in Excel (Microsoft, USA) format containing real data collected and processed inside the manuscript. Moreover, the folder contains a sub-folder called "Origin files", where most of the files involved in the generation of the figures for the Results section reside, together with the statistics obtained for Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of the spectra for the tested exosomes. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| URL | https://figshare.com/articles/software/Manuscript_code/22060640/1 |
| Title | Manuscript code |
| Description | The current folder contains the execution script for the cancer classification (CA) algorithm developed in Matlab software (Mathworks Inc., USA), along with exemplary datasets in Excel (Microsoft, USA) format containing real data collected and processed inside the manuscript. Moreover, the folder contains a sub-folder called "Origin files", where most of the files involved in the generation of the figures for the Results section reside, together with the statistics obtained for Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of the spectra for the tested exosomes. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| URL | https://figshare.com/articles/software/Manuscript_code/22060640 |
| Company Name | PRECISION ROBOTICS LIMITED |
| Description | Precision Robotics is a new startup company from Imperial College London. It aims to develop precise, agile and intelligent surgical robots that are dexterous, compact and versatile. Based on technologies developed by the research team at Imperial College London, the company expects to establish itself as a significant player in this burgeoning field. Located at the Translation and Innovation Hub (I-Hub) of Imperial West, the company has unique facilities in engineering development and clinical translation. The I-HUB is home to the Imperial White City Incubator, which offers flexible workspace and support for young businesses and technological start-ups. |
| Year Established | 2017 |
| Impact | The company's first product incorporates fully articulated robotic arms, which provide accurate manoeuvres and a high level of control to surgeons. It also includes its unique 3-D Augmented Reality-based image navigation software to enable precise, intraoperative control and navigation. Precision Robotics is on course towards regulatory approval and clinical development in the coming years. Headquartered in London, the company also has offices in Hong Kong, brining together talents in both engineering development and clinical translation. |
| Description | 'Autonomous Intraluminal Navigation' workshop at the Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our researcher, Dr Bruno Gil Rosa, gave a talk at the 'Autonomous Intraluminal Navigation' workshop at the Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics 2021 (RCS CPD accredited, total 2 CPD points). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/events/136590/hsmr21-workshop-autonomous-intraluminal-navigation/ |
| Description | 'Design and Modeling of a Spring-Like Continuum Joint with Variable Pitch for Endoluminal Surgery' presentation at IROS 2022 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our researchers (Alumni), Dr Dandan Zhang and Wei Li, gave a presentation about the paper 'Design and Modeling of a Spring-Like Continuum Joint with Variable Pitch for Endoluminal Surgery' at 2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) Conference. The paper was the Finalist for IROS Best Paper Award and ABB Best Student Paper Award. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://ras.papercept.net/conferences/conferences/IROS22/program/IROS22_ContentListWeb_2.html#moa-1_... |
| Description | 'Human-Centric Data-Driven Perception, Cognition and Action in the Operating Theatre' workshop at the Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics 2022 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our clinical Co-I Dr Daniel Leff organised the 'Human-Centric Data-Driven Perception, Cognition and Action in the Operating Theatre' workshop at the Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics 2022 (RCS CPD accredited, total 6 CPD points). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.hamlynsymposium.org/ |
| Description | 'INNOVATIONS FOR PRECISION BREAST SURGERY' at Lates Science Museum |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Our Co-I Daniel Leff and research team presented a demonstration on breast phantom and stained paper phantoms where a low-cost, portable high resolution micro-endoscope was used to see cellular features of the object surface in real-time and with microscopic resolution. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/236874/smart-surgical-imaging-system-breast-cancer/ |
| Description | 'Materials Science for Medical Robotics' Workshop at the Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our researchers, Dr Burak Temelkuran and Dr Mohamed Abdelaziz, organised 'Materials Science for Medical Robotics' Workshop at the Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics 2018. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.hamlynsymposium.org/ |
| Description | 'Micro/Nanorobots for Medicine' workshop at the Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics 2022 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our researchers, Dr Alex Thompson, Dr Meysam Kershavaz and Dr Daniel Bautista, organised the 'Micro/Nanorobots for Medicine' workshop at the Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics 2022 (RCS CPD accredited, total 6 CPD points). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.hamlynsymposium.org/ |
| Description | 'Robot-Assisted Endoscopy At Scale' workshop at the Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our Co-I Daniel Leff and lecturer Dr Stamatia Giannarou organised the 'Robot-Assisted Endoscopy At Scale' workshop at the Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics 2021 (RCS CPD accredited, total 1.5 CPD points). This workshop brought together international experts from surgical, industrial and technology research areas to discuss the latest advances in the field of robot-assisted endoscopy. A comprehensive picture of the challenges of endoscopy will be drawn, marking the current state of practice. Focusing on endoscopy at scale, the most interesting research directions for the near future will be identified. Advances in flexible robotic endoscopic systems will be presented with special emphasis on the application of fetal surgery. Furthermore, autonomous navigation inside the bronchial tree will be explored. The workshop will end with a discussion session to summarise the key elements of robot-assisted endoscopy and the main challenges to be addressed in the coming years. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/events/134593/hsmr21-workshop-robot-assisted-endoscopy-at-scale/ |
| Description | 'Sensing and biophotonics for surgical robotics and in vivo diagnostics' workshop at the Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics 2022 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our researchers, Dr Alex Thompson and Dr Khushi Vyas, organised the 'Sensing and biophotonics for surgical robotics and in vivo diagnostics' workshop at the Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics 2022 (RCS CPD accredited, total 6 CPD points). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.hamlynsymposium.org/ |
| Description | 'Soft, Smart, Multifunctional, Agile And Aware Surgical Robots: Progress And Technologies' workshop at the Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our researcher Dr Panagiotis Kassanos organised 3-day 'Soft, Smart, Multifunctional, Agile And Aware Surgical Robots: Progress And Technologies' workshop at the Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics 2021 (RCS CPD accredited, total 6 CPD points) Day 1 - Learning outcomes: Learning about the requirements of minimally invasive surgery, especially with regards to soft robots. Knowledge of technologies and challenges in soft structures and materials for robots Understanding of a range of actuation means for soft robot devices Knowledge on fabrication methods, materials, device architectures and functionalities of soft robot devices. Knowledge on integration of soft robots in a surgical setting. Learning about navigation and control challenges for soft robots in surgical environments. Day 2 - Learning outcomes: Understanding the need for sensing in soft robotics, surgical robotics and robotics in general Knowledge of technologies and challenges in flexible and stretchable sensing skins for robots Application of sensing patches in wearables and physiological monitoring Knowledge on fabrication methods, materials, device architectures and functionalities of soft sensing devices that can be applied to soft robotics. Knowledge on the practical application of soft sensors to soft surgical robotics. How sensing information can be used for clinical decision making in real-time or for robot control. Day 3 - Learning outcomes: To review the state of the art in modelling, learning and control of soft robots Knowledge on mathematical kinematic modelling of soft and continuum robots Application of deep learning and reinforcement learning to control soft robots. Understanding open challenges in learning and control of continuum robots. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/events/133544/hsmr21-workshop-soft-smart-multifunctional-agile-and-aware-... |
| Description | 'The future of surgery: From keyhole surgery to robots in the operating theatre' event at the Great Exhibition Road Festival 2022 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our research team participated in 'The future of surgery: From keyhole surgery to robots in the operating theatre' event at the Great Exhibition Road Festival 2022. Our Co-I, Prof. Lord Ara Darzi, was the keynote speaker and gave a talk about the evolution of surgical robots in the operating theatre as well as the future of surgery. Our researcher, Dr Khushi Vyas, showcased a demo of a portable endomicroscopy system and explained its role in doing virtual digital histopathology for future robotic surgeries. Several objects with different textures and features were stained with a fluorescent marker and images were acquired by scanning the fibre-bundle tip on the object surface. This demonstrated the capability of the imaging system to detect the microscopic features of these objects in real-time as well as distinguished them giving the audience a feel of how different non-neoplastic and neoplastic tissues are imaged. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/live/L_4HJdd0KlQ?feature=share |
| Description | 'Towards Tumour Margin Assessment Using Raman Spectroscopy: Progress And Challenges' workshop at the Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our researcher Dr Jang Ah Kim and Co-Is organised the 'Towards Tumour Margin Assessment Using Raman Spectroscopy: Progress And Challenges' workshop at the Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics 2021 (RCS CPD accredited, total 1 CPD points). Learning Outcomes: Knowledge of challenges associated with organ preserving cancer surgery. Understanding the scale of positive margins. Impact of positive margins on patient outcome and healthcare economy. Review of existing solutions to tackle positive margins and their limitations. Understanding of Raman spectroscopy and the opportunities it provides for clinical diagnostics. Knowledge of application of Raman spectroscopy to cancer diagnostics, particularly for tumour margin assessment. Knowledge of the challenges in translating Raman spectroscopy to the clinic. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/events/133491/hsmr21-workshop-towards-tumour-margin-assessment-using-rama... |
| Description | 'Towards Versatile and Seamless Surgical Technologies' workshop at the Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics 2022 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our researcher (Alumni), Dr Dandan Zhang, was one of the organising committee members for the 'Towards Versatile and Seamless Surgical Technologies' workshop at the Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics 2022 (RCS CPD accredited, total 6 CPD points). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.hamlynsymposium.org/ |
| Description | 2018 Hamlyn Symposium for Medical Robotics |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our researcher, Dandan Zhang, presented a poster of her work 'An Ergonomic Interaction Workspace Analysis Method for the Optimal Design of a Surgical Master Manipulator'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | 2019 Hamlyn Symposium for Medical Robotics (2019 HSMR) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our researcher, Dandan Zhang, presented a poster of her work 'A Novel Hybrid Master-Slave Control Interface for Surgical Robot Remote Control"; "User Studies for the Determination of Master-Slave Mapping Strategy for a Compact Master Manipulator' at the 2019 Hamlyn Symposium for Medical Robotics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | 2019 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (2019 ICRA) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our researcher, Dandan Zhang, presented her work 'A Self-Adaptive Motion Scaling Framework for Surgical Robot Remote Control' at the 2019 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (2019 ICRA). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | 2019 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (2019 IROS) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our researcher, Dr Dandan Zhang, presented her works at the 2019 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (2019 IROS): a. "A Handheld Master Controller for Robot-Assisted Microsurgery" b. "Design and Verification of a Portable Master Manipulator Based on an Effective Workspace Analysis Framework" c. "WSRender: A Workspace Analysis and Visualization Toolbox for Robotic Manipulator Design and Verification" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://doi.org/10.1109/IROS40897.2019.8968542 |
| Description | 2019 International Conference on Manipulation, Automation and Robotics at Small Scales (2019 MARSS) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our researcher, Dandan Zhang, presented her work 'Towards Microrobot Out-of-Plane Control Via Planar Multi-Spot Optical Tweezer' at the 2019 International Conference on Manipulation, Automation and Robotics at Small Scales (2019 MARSS). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | 2020 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (2020 ICRA) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our researcher, Dr Dandan Zhang, presented her work 'An Ergonomic Shared Workspace Analysis Framework for the Optimal Placement of a Compact Master Control Console' at the 2020 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2020.2974428 |
| Description | 2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (2020 IROS) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our researcher, Dr Dandan Zhang, presented her work 'Supervised Semi-Autonomous Control for Surgical Robot Based on Bayesian Optimisation' at the 2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://doi.org/10.1109/IROS45743.2020.9341383 |
| Description | 2020 International Academic Forum of Institute of Medical Robotics |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our researcher, Dr Dandan Zhang, presented her work 'Perception and Manipulation of Optical Microrobots' at the 2020 International Academic Forum of Institute of Medical Robotics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://imr.sjtu.edu.cn/en/news/686.html |
| Description | 3D-printed Sensor on Fibre-Optic Probes for Rapid Bacteria Detection |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Fiber-Optic SERS Probes Fabricated Using Two-Photon Polymerization For Rapid Detection of Bacteria" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/234198/3d-printed-sensor-fibre-optic-probes-rapid-bacteria/ |
| Description | A Comparative Review of Artificial Muscles for Microsystem Applications |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "A Comparative Review of Artificial Muscles for Microsystem Applications" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/232334/comparative-review-artificial-muscles-microsystem-application... |
| Description | A Cross-Domain Transfer Learning Scheme for Robot-Assisted Microsurgery |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Automatic Microsurgical Skill Assessment Based on Cross-Domain Transfer Learning" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/200414/cross-domain-transfer-learning-scheme-robot-assisted-microsur... |
| Description | A Flexible/Stretchable Multiparametric Sensing Device |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Towards a Flexible/Stretchable Multiparametric Sensing Device for Surgical and Wearable" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/196214/flexiblestretchable-multiparametric-sensing-device/ |
| Description | A Guide of Tetrapolar Bioimpedance Sensor Measurement for Healthcare Application |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "A Comparison of Front-End Amplifiers for Tetrapolar Bioimpedance Measurements" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/203233/guide-tetrapolar-bioimpedance-sensor-measurement-healthcare/ |
| Description | A Human-Robot Interaction Analysis Framework for Minimally Invasive Surgery |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "An Ergonomic Shared Workspace Analysis Framework for the Optimal Placement of a Compact Master Control Console" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/199954/human-robot-interaction-analysis-framework-minimally-invasive... |
| Description | A New Kinematic Model for A Surgical Robot Tool in Minimally Invasive Surgery |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Adaptive Kinematic Modelling for Multiobjective Control of a Redundant Surgical Robotic Tool" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/205113/new-kinematic-model-surgical-robot-tool/ |
| Description | A New Micro-robot Manipulation Model for Cell Surgery Applications |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Distributed Force Control for Microrobot Manipulation via Planar Multi-Spot Optical Tweezer" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/202713/new-micro-robot-manipulation-model-cell-surgery/ |
| Description | A Novel Bronchoscopic Localisation Approach for Lung Cancer Diagnosis |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Generative Localization With Uncertainty Estimation Through Video-CT Data for Bronchoscopic Biopsy" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/197536/novel-bronchoscopic-localisation-approach-lung-cancer/ |
| Description | A Novel Flexible Wrist-Worn Thermotherapy and Thermoregulation Device |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Towards a Flexible Wrist-Worn Thermotherapy and Thermoregulation Device" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/197215/novel-flexible-wrist-worn-thermotherapy-thermoregulation-devi... |
| Description | A Novel Functional Atraumatic Self-Shaping Cochlear Implant |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Towards a Functional Atraumatic Self-Shaping Cochlear Implant" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/231675/novel-functional-atraumatic-self-shaping-cochlear-implant/ |
| Description | A Novel Micro?uidics Design at Fibre Tip for Precision Drug Delivery & Sampling |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Microfluidics at Fiber Tip for Nanoliter Delivery and Sampling" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/217473/novel-microuidics-design-fibre-tip-precision/ |
| Description | A Novel Plasmonic Optical Fibre Approach for Bacterial Accumulation Behaviour |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Plasmonic optical fiber for bacteria manipulation-characterization and visualization of accumulation behavior under plasmo-thermal trapping" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/223513/novel-plasmonic-optical-fibre-approach-bacterial/ |
| Description | A Novel Subcutaneously Implanted Device for Cardiovascular Assessment |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Feasibility Study on Subcutaneously Implanted Devices in Male Rodents for Cardiovascular Assessment Through Near-Field Communication Interface" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/226193/novel-subcutaneously-implanted-device-cardiovascular-assessme... |
| Description | A Review of Optical Spectroscopy for in-vivo Medical Diagnosis |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Optical spectroscopy for in vivo medical diagnosis-a review of the state of the art and future perspectives" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/203393/review-optical-spectroscopy-in-vivo-medical-diagnosis/ |
| Description | A Tutorial for Bioimpedance Sensors |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Bioimpedance Sensors: A Tutorial" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/231234/tutorial-bioimpedance-sensors/ |
| Description | A novel micro-pneumatic tool for targeted therapy and cell-based intervention |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Liquid seal for compact micropiston actuation at the capillary tip" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/197815/novel-micro-pneumatic-tool-targeted-therapy-cell-based/ |
| Description | A potential new route to future nerve regeneration technologies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Induced neural stem cell differentiation on a drawn fiber scaffold-toward peripheral nerve regeneration" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/197176/potential-route-future-nerve-regeneration-technologies/ |
| Description | A talk on Portable confocal laser endomicroscopy for rapid in-situ breast tissue diagnosis at London surgical symposium 2022 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our research team (led by our clinical Co-I Daniel Leff and researcher Dr Khushi Vyas) was invited to deliver an oral presentation on portable confocal laser endomicroscopy for rapid in-situ breast tissue diagnosis at the London Surgical Symposium 2022 - Pioneering change - old challenges, new horizons meeting on 10th November 2022. The talk highlighted the results of imaging breast cancer tissue using our novel line-scan confocal endomicroscopy systems and reporting its comparison with histology. The purpose of the talk was to present this new technology to clinical practitioners from a wide range of disciplines associated with surgery. 60 plus clinicians and postgraduate students attended the talk, which sparked questions and discussions afterwards which could help us to improve our clinical application areas and translation protocols. The presentation also opened up opportunities for future collaborations, validated our technology, and provided exposure and networking opportunities to extend our technology to other cancer types. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/events/151904/london-surgical-symposium-2022/ |
| Description | An invited talk at CRUK Convergence Science Centre 2022 Symposium |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our researcher Dr Stamatia (Matina) Giannarou was invited as a speaker in the 'Convergence at the ICR and Imperial' session at CRUK Convergence Science Centre 2022 Symposium. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.convergencesciencecentre.ac.uk/news-events/events-calendar/evnets-archive/2022/12/07/def... |
| Description | An invited talk on 'Bringing lights and camera to cancer' at Imperial Science Cafés 2019 series |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Patients, carers and/or patient groups |
| Results and Impact | Our research team (led by Dr Khushi Vyas) was invited to organised a talk session on the topic of 'Bringing lights and camera to cancer' at Imperial Science Cafés 2019 series. This event was held at the Maggie's Centre at Charing Cross Hospital, in which we updated many members of the public, patients and staff on the progress of our research on using compact confocal microscopes for intra-operative cancer detection during surgery. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | An invited talk on Innovations in Fluorescence Endomicroscopy for Intra-Operative Margin Assessment |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our researcher Dr Khushi Vyas gave an invited talk (virtual) focusing on Fluorescence Endomicroscopy for Intra-Operative Margin Assessment as part of the CRUK Convergence Science Centre seminar series. She introduced the technology behind the fluorescence endomicroscopy system, its integration with robotics, applications, and its potential for intraoperative margin assessment during BCS. The purpose of the talk was to highlight the applications of this cutting-edge technology and demonstrate the convergence approach in achieving it through strong collaboration between experts from engineering, biophotonics, clinical, pathology, and robotics. 60 attendants including clinicians and researchers attended the talk which resulting in an engaging discussion on this exciting technology and its potential to transform the way we treat breast cancer. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.convergencesciencecentre.ac.uk/news-events/events-calendar/evnets-archive/2023/02/16/def... |
| Description | An invited talk on Innovations in Miniaturised Fluorescence Microscopy for Intra-Operative Surgical Imaging and university visit |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our researcher Dr Khushi Vyas was invited to visit and give a talk on Innovations in Miniaturized Fluorescence Microscopy for Intra-Operative Surgical Imaging at Indian institute of Technology, Gandhinagar India on 05th January 2023. The talk highlighted the results of our collaborative project MAMMOBOT to develop a miniaturised high-resolution ductoscope based on fibred fluorescence endomicroscopy (FFE) imaging for in-situ diagnosis, biopsy guidance and image-guided intervention of breast cancer. Flexible forward viewing FFE probes have been developed at the Hamlyn Centre for Robotic surgery for high-speed (up to 120 fps) line-scan confocal imaging with sub-cellular resolution of 2.2 µm and with an outer diameter as small as 0.9 µm. Novel directions for developing robot-assisted endomicroscopy systems and expanding its use for in vivo intra-luminal imaging, such as in the lung and urology were also discussed. Such systems would potentially aid in improving early detection, treatment and management of tumours, minimising invasiveness of procedures and improving the patient outcome. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Surgery |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Application of artificial intelligence in surgery" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/200673/application-artificial-intelligence-ai-surgery/ |
| Description | Conference presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Oral presentation at conference "Plasmonics in Biology and Medicine XVI" in SPIE Photonics West 2019 about development of SERS-on-a-tip (surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy on an optical fibre tip) probes. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | http://spie.org/conferences-and-exhibitions/photonics-west?SSO=1 |
| Description | Constrained-Space Optimisation and Reinforcement Learning for Complex Tasks |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Constrained-Space Optimization and Reinforcement Learning for Complex Tasks" was featured on Imperial News. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/195574/imperial-robotics-papers-icra-2020/ |
| Description | EPSRC Press Release - a novel ultra-tiny endo-microscope system for breast cancer surgery |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Our researcher, Dr Khushi Vyas, was invited to liaise with EPSRC for a press release in the Breast Cancer Month (October 2022). The novel ultra-tiny endo-microscope system developed by the research team was highlighted in the press release and was reported in various national newspapers in the UK. The endo-microscope, a microscope designed to be inserted into the body to provide views of tissues and organs, can be steered through extremely small, tight spaces in the body during surgery, producing images with unprecedented speed. It will aid high-precision breast-conserving surgery by enabling surgeons to identify, extremely accurately and much more quickly than currently possible, suspicious tissue around tumours as well as cancerous cells just a hundredth of a millimetre across. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.ukri.org/news/microscope-could-speed-up-and-simplify-breast-cancer-treatment/ |
| Description | EPSRC Scientific Advisory Board & Research Steering Group Bi-annual Meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Scientific Advisory Board & Research Steering Group members came to the Hamlyn Centre for participating the bi-annual meeting to examine our current research progress. Our research teams presented a series of demos as well as current progress presentation to all the members for demonstrating our works. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://twitter.com/ICLHamlynRobots/status/1088766049590394880 |
| Description | Examining Carbon-Based Elastomeric Composites for Printed Sensors & Electronics |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Electrical and Mechanical Characterisation of Carbon-Based Elastomeric Composites for Printed Sensors and Electronics" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/231117/examining-carbon-based-elastomeric-composites-printed-sensors... |
| Description | Former Prime Minister Tony Blair Visit |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The former Prime Minister Tony Blair visited Imperial College and toured the Hamlyn Centre for Robotics, viewing demonstrations of surgical robots, 3D printed microrobotic tools and augmented reality technology for medical imaging. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/187036/former-pm-supports-lord-darzi-report/ |
| Description | Friends of Imperial Visit |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Supporters |
| Results and Impact | The Hamlyn Centre participated in the programme of "Friends of Imperial Visit" as one of visit destinations. Our research teams demonstrated the latest research result to the "Friends of Imperial Visit" participants and answered their questions regarding the works. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.friendsofimperial.org.uk/Media/Documents/Current_Programme.pdf |
| Description | Frontiers of Medical Robotics: From Concept to Systems to Clinical Translation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Frontiers of Medical Robotics: From Concept to Systems to Clinical Translation" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/195561/frontiers-medical-robotics-from-concept-systems/ |
| Description | GlobDesOpt: A Global Optimisation Framework for Optimal Robot Manipulator Design |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "GlobDesOpt: A Global Optimisation Framework for Optimal Robot Manipulator Design" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/236535/globdesopt-global-optimisation-framework-optimal-robot/ |
| Description | Hamlyn Centre Christmas Showcase |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Hamlyn Christmas Showcase was an event for collaborators and affiliates of the Hamlyn Centre that showcased the latest research outputs of the Hamlyn Centre. The aim was to communicate our research findings and encourage deeper collaboration. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Hamlyn Centre Induction Day |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The Hamlyn Centre Induction Day was an event for creating better connectivity within the Hamlyn team of over 80 researchers. With talks, networking activities and discussions, this event enabled MRes students, PhD students, researchers and support staff to engage and share ideas for development of Hamlyn initiatives. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Hamlyn Centre Official Twitter |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Hamlyn Centre Official Twitter account aims to reach out all types of audiences for demonstrating our research progress and result, promoting our events and sharing relevant information. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014,2015,2016,2017,2018,2019 |
| URL | https://twitter.com/ICLHamlynRobots |
| Description | Hamlyn Symposium Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Organised this workshop on "Focused Energy Delivery & Precision Intervention", bringing clinical and technical speakers on the topic together. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Hamlyn Winter School on Surgical Imaging and Vision |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The Winter School focuses on both technical and clinical aspects of Surgical Imaging and Vision, with invited lectures, hands-on demonstrations, workshops, and mini-projects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://hamlyn.doc.ic.ac.uk/winterschool/ |
| Description | Hamlyn Winter School on Surgical Imaging and Vision |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Hamlyn Winter School focuses on both the technical and clinical aspects of Surgical Imaging and Vision. Through invited lectures, hands-on demonstrations, workshops, and mini-projects, the purpose of our winter school is to help researchers familiarise with the cutting edge research of this rapidly expanding field covering key areas of: Fundamentals and current state-of-the-art in surgical imaging; Vision algorithms for tracking, 3D scene reconstruction and surgical navigation; Intra-operative registration and retargeting; Multi-modal image fusion and real-time augmented reality systems based on inverse realism; Robot assisted large area microscopic imaging and mosaicing; Dynamic active constraints with real-time vision; Vision enabled surgical robot design and miniaturisation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/hamlyn-centre/news-and-events/hamlyn-winter-school-on-surgical-imaging-an... |
| Description | High-speed line-scan confocal laser endomicroscope (LS-CLE) for breast cancer surgery |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our novel development 'High-speed line-scan confocal laser endomicroscope (LS-CLE) for breast cancer surgery' was featured on Imperial News for an EPSRC Press Release - https://www.ukri.org/news/microscope-could-speed-up-and-simplify-breast-cancer-treatment/ |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/241095/researchers-trial-tiny-microscope-detect-breast/ |
| Description | INformative talk to international students of Revolutions in Biomedicine Summer School |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Maura Power gave a talk to students taking part in the "Revolutions in Biomedicine Summer School" at Imperial College about the state of the art of microrobotics in medicine, and also discussed the published on-going work at the Hamlyn Centre (July 2018) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | ISMRM & SMRT Annual Meeting & Exhibition 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The work of our research team has been accepted to present in ISMRM & SMRT Annual Meeting & Exhibition 2021 and will be published in the proceedings of this event. M. E. M. K. Abdelaziz, L. Tian, T. Lottner, S. Reiss, K. Düring, G-Z. Yang, M. Bock and B. Temelkuran, "An MR Safe Steerable Catheter for MR-guided Endovascular Interventions", Accepted to be published in proceedings of ISMRM & SMRT Annual Meeting & Exhibition 2021. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Infection Diagnostics: Miniature Fibre-Optic Probes for Rapid Bacteria Detection |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Fibre-Optic SERS Probes Fabricated Using Two-Photon Polymerisation For Rapid Detection of Bacteria" was featured on Advanced Optical Materials cover and the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/197315/infection-diagnostics-miniature-fibre-optic-probes-rapid/ |
| Description | Interactive presentation in ICRA 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | We had an interactive presentation for 4 hours during the conference. We presented our work with posters and videos, and discussed with people who are interested. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | International Robotics Showcase |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A showcase of robotics for academia, industry and the public The International Robotics Showcase will be part of the International Business Festival this year, and this will be held on Thursday 21st June 2018 at the Exhibition Centre Liverpool, Kings Dock, Liverpool Waterfront, L3 4FP.The full-day programme includes exclusive talks by world-renowned experts in science and technology, panel discussions, exhibitions, robot demonstrations and an award ceremony for competition winners demonstrating cutting-edge robotics innovation. Exciting demonstrations of cutting-edge robotics technology; Lively discussion and debate, covering ethical, legal and economic impacts of Robotics and AI; The release of several new White Papers, covering the current research landscape in: Urban Automation & Transport AgriTech The day also offers academics, industry, government organisations and the public, the opportunity to enjoy the fascinating and diverse exhibits by our sponsors, as well as provide a lively forum for discussion and discovery of some of the latest technological developments and research challenges in Robotics and Autonomous Systems. The event will take place within the 2018 International Business Festival and a 9 day pass is included withi your registration. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://hamlyn.doc.ic.ac.uk/uk-ras/robotics-week/showcase |
| Description | Invited Talk- Prof Itaru Kitahara: 3D-CG Virtual Surgical Operation in University of Tsukuba |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our senior research fellow Dr Matina Giannarou invited Prof. Itaru Kitahara to share the experience about "3D-CG Virtual Surgical Operation in University of Tsukuba" with our researchers in the Hamlyn Centre. Prof. Itaru Kitahara is leading the Virtual Surgery research project at the University of Tsukuba, Japan and his research focuses on Computer Vision and Mixed Reality. During the talk, he not only introduced "3D CG Virtual Surgery", which aims to realise a navigation system of surgical operation using Computer Vision and AR/VR techniques, but also presented the collaboration between their research team and the medical doctors in our university regarding 3D CG Virtual Surgery. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://twitter.com/ICLHamlynRobots/status/1102943972790542336 |
| Description | Invited Talk- Prof Jackrit Suthakorn: the past, present and future of the BART LAB |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Prof Jackrit Suthakorn, the BART LAB executive director and the department chair of Department of Biomedical Engineering at Mahidol University, visited the Hamlyn Centre on Monday 25th January 2019. He gave a talk regarding the development of the BART LAB as well as their current research areas and progress in robotics for extreme environment as well as rehabilitation to the Hamlyn Centre researchers and members. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Laser-Profiled Continuum Robot with Integrated Tension Sensing |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Laser-Profiled Continuum Robot with Integrated Tension Sensing for Simultaneous Shape and Tip Force Estimation" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/195974/laser-profiled-continuum-robot-with-integrated-tension/ |
| Description | Lecture in clinical engineering hub - "Fibres for Medical Robots to Medical Fibre Robots" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | As part of the clinical engineering program, Dr Temelkuran gave lecture. 10 students attended. 3 of them followed up with summer internship requests. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://clinicianengineer.com |
| Description | Line-Scan Confocal Endomicroscopy for Rapid Digital Histology of Early Breast Cancer (Oral Presentation at CLEO 2022) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our researcher, Dr Khushi Vyas, will give an oral presentation of the latest research result 'Line-Scan Confocal Endomicroscopy for Rapid Digital Histology of Early Breast Cancer' at CLEO 2022 on 19th May 2022 in San Jose, USA. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.cleoconference.org/home/ |
| Description | Live MAMMOBOT demonstration for patient advisory group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Patients, carers and/or patient groups |
| Results and Impact | Our Co-I Daniel Leff and Researcher Dr Khushi Vyas held a live MAMMOBOT demonstration for patient advisory group. This event has been distributed widely through our patient engagement co-ordinator and networks including through the Colleges, CRUK, Social Media - LinkedIn, etc. Our research team demonstrated the latest development in our breast micro-ductoscope and its capability to differentiate between normal and abnormal breast tissues. The aim of this event is to get feedback from Industry experts, colleagues and the public on progress to date and steps required to improve the design further. Around 50 people attended the demo, primary audience was patients, carers and patient groups. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://breastcancernow.org/get-involved/volunteer-us/%E2%80%98mammobot%E2%80%99-flexible-robot-earl... |
| Description | London research envisages a future cochlear implant that self-curls into individual cochlea shapes |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Towards a Functional Atraumatic Self-Shaping Cochlear Implant" was featured on Audiology WorldNews. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | http://www.audiology-worldnews.com/research/4284-london-research-envisages-a-future-cochlear-implant... |
| Description | MARSS conference Nagoya Japan |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | A presentation "Surface Tension for Micro-Gripper Pneumatic Actuation" in MARSS conference Nagoya Japan 2018 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | MIT Technology Review Arabia's Innovators Under 35 for 2021 - Dr Mohamed Abdelaziz |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Our researcher Dr Mohamed Abdelaziz was named as one of MIT Technology Review Arabia's Innovators Under 35 for 2021. This news was featured on Imperial News. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/233477/comets-tail-crossing-supply-chain-challenge/ |
| Description | Making cochlear implants safer with self-shaping polymers |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Towards a Functional Atraumatic Self-Shaping Cochlear Implant" was featured on Advanced Science News. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.advancedsciencenews.com/making-cochlear-implants-safer-with-self-shaping-polymers/ |
| Description | Materials Science for Medical Robotics |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Workshop Aims The traditional concept of motor driven robots with mechanical transmission and computer control is still deeply rooted into our design workflow and hardware embodiment in robotics. However, exciting advances in materials science, including the development of smart materials, energy harvesting and actuation schemes, as well as the adoption of bio-inspired design principles can offer radically new ways to construct and operate robots. These are particularly relevant to the future development of medical robotics, integrating sensing, micro-scale tissue manipulation and targeted delivery. They challenge the physical limitation of mechatronics and are no longer limited by the degrees-of-freedom of traditional mechanisms. New materials that combine sensing, actuation, computation and communication offer a whole range of new opportunities for the design of new robots. New actuators made by these materials can react to its external environment by either changing their material properties or geometries and they can be electrically responsive, or react to temperature, light, magnetic field, pressure, mechanical loading or surrounding chemical properties (e.g. changes in pH). They are also sensitive to more local effects or fluctuations including surface tension, diffusion, induction pumping, ion-drag and conductive heterogeneity. The goal of this workshop is to bring together researchers in medical robotics and materials science to explore new research opportunities and potential synergies in the development and application of new materials for medical robotics. The workshop will include several invited talks, and we also welcome submissions from Symposium attendees. The workshop ended with several potential collaboration discussions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Micro Motion Amplification - A Review |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Micro motion amplification - A Review" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/196714/micro-motion-amplification-review/ |
| Description | Miniature Fibre-Optic Probes for Rapid Bacteria Detection |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Fibre-Optic SERS Probes Fabricated Using Two-Photon Polymerisation For Rapid Detection of Bacteria" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/195659/miniature-fibre-optic-probes-rapid-bacteria-detection/ |
| Description | Minister of State for Immigration Caroline Nokes MP and Cancer Research UK Visit |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Caroline Nokes MP, Minister of State for Immigration, visited Imperial in October 2018 and took a tour of the Hamlyn Centre for Robotic Surgery. She was joined by representatives of Cancer Research UK and our college president Alice Gast. During the visit, Caroline Nokes was shown some of our latest robot technology in medicine, developments which have enabled healthcare professionals to conduct smarter operations with higher precision. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/188691/immigration-minister-sees-benefits-internationalism-imperial/ |
| Description | New Health Secretary Steve Barclay MP Visit |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Our research team welcomed new health secretary Steve Barclay MP at the Hamlyn Centre and presented our latest technological developments as well as their clinical applications in minimally invasive surgery during his VIP visit at Imperial College. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/238371/new-health-secretary-sees-cutting-edge-medical/ |
| Description | Novel Functional Atraumatic Self-Shaping Cochlear Implant |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Towards a Functional Atraumatic Self-Shaping Cochlear Implant" was featured on Hearing Health & Technology Matters Newsletter. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://hearinghealthmatters.org/blog/2021/researchers-propose-novel-functional-atraumatic-self-shap... |
| Description | Novel Low-powered Implantable Devices for Breast Cancer Soft Tissue Monitoring |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Low-powered implantable devices activated by ultrasonic energy transfer for physiological monitoring in soft tissue via functionalised electrochemical electrodes" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/225293/novel-low-powered-implantable-devices-breast-cancer/ |
| Description | On-fiber printed sensor for label-free detection of bacteria |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Fiber-Optic SERS Probes Fabricated Using Two-Photon Polymerization For Rapid Detection of Bacteria" was featured on Nanoscribe. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.nanoscribe.com/en/news-insights/news/label-free-detection-of-bacteria |
| Description | Patient speaker |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | We had a patient speaker arranged with the help of Breast Cancer Now charity board member of this programme grant - Simon Vincent. The patient gave a talk which was: - Motivational: Our young engineers always hear about survival rates, complications in surgery, infection, etc With her talk, all these are now linked to reality, and importance of their work is a lot more obvious to them. Anna's talk was quite motivative for the team. - Inspiring: Anna being a researcher especially helped a lot. The team could comfortably discuss with her what could be technically improved based on her experience. We also discussed her involvement throughout the project. As a next step, we discussed inviting her to one of our demonstrations presenting our developments, possibly summer of 2019 during Hamlyn Symposium. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Patterning Precision with Floating Magnetic Microrobots |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Floating magnetic microrobots for fiber functionalisation" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/193129/patterning-precision-with-floating-magnetic-microrobots/ |
| Description | Professor Daniel Elson: Lighting Up The Operating Theatre |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Professor Daniel Elson, our Hamlyn Centre Director of Studies, talked through a career that has mirrored the typical innovation translation pathway - from a PhD in laser physics, and time spent in the Faculty of Engineering developing imaging tools for key hole surgery, a move to the Division of Surgery saw him work directly with surgeons to begin translating those technologies into image guidance tools. He discussed progress made developing diagnostic methods and technologies, and the value of adopting a clinical, rather than purely technological driven, approach to innovation and problem solving, working with surgeons to identify challenges today and tomorrow. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOQz7HufVaQ&feature=youtu.be |
| Description | Rapid digital histology of urothelial carcinoma using line-scan confocal laser endomicroscopy (Poster at 2022 Biophotonics Congress: Biomedical Optics) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our researcher, Dr Khushi Vyas, will present a poster of the latest research result 'Rapid digital histology of urothelial carcinoma using line-scan confocal laser endomicroscopy' at 2022 Biophotonics Congress: Biomedical Optics on 25th April 2022 in Forte Lauderdale, USA. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.optica.org/meetings/osa_meetings/biophotonics_congress_biomedical_optics/ |
| Description | Robotics development (TV programme interview in Egypt) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Our researcher Dr Mohamed Abdelaziz was interviewed by an Egypt TV programme - MBC MASR 1 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://youtu.be/htJ0SIX20j4 |
| Description | School Robot Challenge |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The challenge will be run jointly by any interested UK-RAS partner universities, and is aimed at teams of schoolchildren of ages up to 16 (year 11). It will be published in the UK-RAS Robotics Week 2018 brochure and on the website, and will be distributed via each participating university's local schools' network. The challenge will consist of 2 separate activities: the first involves schools working independently to develop and then submit a design(s) for a robot system to help older people. The deadline for submissions for this activity is 18/05/2018. The best entries will then be chosen, with one winning team selected by each participating university (the proximity of school to university may or may not influence the decision), which will then invite that team to a special one-day event on 26/06/2018 (that is, the Tuesday of UK Robotics Week). After a tour of the robot labs, the teams will be set another similar care-themed challenge using whatever basic, programmable robotics equipment is to hand (e.g., Lego Mindstorms - there is no requirement for the same equipment to be used at each university). This activity will last from 10.30am until 3.30pm with a working lunch provided, and if possible live streaming of video from the other participating sites (also shown on the UK-RAS website). The goal of each team will be to produce a smartphone video of no longer than 1 minute's duration that describes the problem, the concept and design of their suggested solution, and - hopefully - shows their solution in action. The videos will be uploaded to YouTube or similar. A panel of judges - one from each participating university - will view each of the videos, and then confer to select an overall winning team. (Some of) the winning team will then be invited to the UK Robotics Week Showcase event on Thursday 21st June, where they will receive a prize (budget permitting) on behalf of their school. The suggested text publicising the challenge is below. (Note that it is not intended to be as explicit as the above text to allow for some flexibility in the format to take into account the number and quality of submissions, budget available, participating universities, etc., and all dates are subject to confirmation.) The UK-RAS Health and Social Care Challenge 2018 We invite schools to submit their designs for a robotic system that addresses the challenge of how to help older people stay healthy and live independent lives. Submissions should be the work of teams of up to 8 children aged 16 or under. Entries can be in any format, should be no longer than 1000 words (or equivalent) in length, and each school may submit an unlimited number of entries. The closing date for submissions is Friday 18th May. The judging panel will then select the best entries, with submissions being judged according to their usefulness, practicality and creativity. The winning teams will be invited to a special one-day event on Tuesday 26th June at their nearest UK-RAS University, during which they will visit our robotics facilities to learn more about our research, and then get to develop and test their own robots. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://hamlyn.doc.ic.ac.uk/uk-ras/events/school-robot-challenge |
| Description | School Robot Challenge at Imperial Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | An interactive activity was provided at the Imperial Festival 2017, based on the School Robot Challenge organised by the Hamlyn Centre and the UK-RAS Network. This activity encouraged schoolchildren to be inspired by robotics and nature and create their own digital robotic insect. The children drew a robotic insect on paper and were then shown how to turn it into a 3D computer model. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://hamlyn.doc.ic.ac.uk/uk-ras/robotics-week-2018 |
| Description | Smart Sensing for Surgery |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Smart Sensing for Surgery: From Tethered Devices to Wearables and Implantables" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/201053/smart-sensing-surgery/ |
| Description | Surgical Robot Challenge |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The aim of this challenge is to exploit the unique expertise of the consortium in medical robotics to develop low-cost robot-assisted surgical and diagnostic devices that can benefit the NHS as well as be used as solutions for global health. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://hamlyn.doc.ic.ac.uk/hsmr/events/surgical-robot-challenge-2017 |
| Description | Surrey University: To host the 18th TAROS 2017 as an official event of UK Robotics Week 2017 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | TAROS is a platform for RAS researchers from worldwide, and welcomes paper submissions on a wide range of topics related to the principles and practice of robotics, including but not limited to: Advanced applications of autonomous robots (industrial and research) Advanced medical robotics; Robots for surgery; Assistive robotics; Intelligent prostheses Applications development, hardware issues, devices and techniques, advanced sensors and actuators Autonomous assembly robotics; Modular reconfigurable robots; Evolutionary robotics Autonomous vehicles; driverless cars Bio-mimetic and bio-inspired robotics; Bio-hybrid robotic systems; Humanoid robotics Cognitive robotics; Developmental robotics Ethical and societal issues in robotics; Robots in education, the arts and entertainment; Personal robotics Field robotics, Space and planetary robotics Human-robot interaction and interfaces Learning and adaptation Long-term interaction and operation Modelling and analysis of robot models Navigation, localization, map building and path planning; Analysis of robot-environment interaction Robot autonomy including energy self-sufficiency; Robot control architectures; Robot vision, sensing and perception Robot communication and language Safety, verification and validation for robotic applications Service robotics Soft robotics Swarm robotics; Collective robots |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.surrey.ac.uk/taros2017 |
| Description | Talk at SPIE / Photonics West LASE conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Maura Power gave a talk at SPIE / Photonics West LASE conference in San Francisco, US in one of the Laser 3D Manufacturing sessions on the topic of the many different applications and fabrication approaches with two-photon polymerisation for novel microrobot designs (January 2018). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Talk to CNRS students and researchers at FEMTO-ST in Besançon |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Maura Power delivered a talk to CNRS students and researchers at FEMTO-ST in Besançon, France about her work on "Fabrication of tethered microrobot end-effectors using two-photon polymerisation", and other related published material at the Hamlyn Centre on microrobots (December 2018). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | The Hamlyn Centre Christmas Showcase |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Supporters |
| Results and Impact | The Hamlyn Christmas Showcase is an event that showcased the latest research outputs form our research teams at the Hamlyn Centre. Every year we invite our collaborators and affiliates to participate this event in order to demonstrate our research findings and to discuss potential further collaboration. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017,2018,2019 |
| URL | https://twitter.com/ICLHamlynRobots/status/1073577685488754688 |
| Description | The Hamlyn Centre Official Website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Hamlyn Centre Official website aims to engage with all types of audiences for introducing our centre purpose and structure as well as our research areas and environment. On the website, we also constantly update job opportunities, event information and News from our research teams as well as the Imperial College. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018,2019 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/hamlyn-centre/ |
| Description | The Hamlyn Symposium |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics (HSMR) provides an annual forum for surgeons and engineers from across the globe, to network and explore the latest developments in medical robotics. The Symposium has been successfully conducted for the past 11 years and has become a leading international conference on medical robotics, current clinical practice and emerging technologies in robotic surgery. Every year researchers, clinicians and engineers are invited to submit papers on a range of topics covering clinical specialities in Urology, Cardiac Surgery, Neuro Surgery, Thoracic Surgery, General Surgery, Gynaecology, ENT, Orthopaedic and Paediatric Surgery. The Hamlyn Symposium is composed of a series of workshops on various clinical and technical topics and the main conference with the participants from leading medical, science and technology institutions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018,2019 |
| URL | https://www.ukras.org/hamlyn/ |
| Description | The future of robotic surgery - Hamlyn Centre |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Our researchers, Dr Mohamed Abdelaziz, Dr Meysam Keshavarz, Francesco Cursi and Daniel Bautista-Salinas, participated in the interview of "The future of robotic surgery - Hamlyn Centre" conducted by Italia 1 Channel, Mediaset. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://youtu.be/utPORLbYkW4 |
| Description | The i2 Snake Robotic Platform for Endoscopic Surgery |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "The i2Snake Robotic Platform for Endoscopic Surgery" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/195620/the-i2-snake-robotic-platform-endoscopic/ |
| Description | Towards a Functional Atraumatic Self-Shaping Cochlear Implant (a broadcast in Italy) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Our researcher Daniel Bautista-Salinas was interviewed on a broadcast in Italian Television (Studio Aperto, Italia 1) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Transfer Recurrent Feature Learning for Endomicroscopy Image Recognition |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "Transfer Recurrent Feature Learning for Endomicroscopy Image Recognition" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/196557/transfer-recurrent-feature-learning-endomicroscopy-image/ |
| Description | UK Robotics Week 2017 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Acting autonomously or in close collaboration with humans, Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) have a broad range of new and established applications. As the underlying technologies are further developed and translated from laboratory settings to real-world applications, RAS is playing an increasingly important role in the UK's economy and it's future growth. The UK-RAS Network was established with the mission to provide academic leadership, expand collaboration with industry and integrate and coordinate activities at the EPSRC funded RAS capital facilities, Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) and partner universities across the UK. We are delighted with last year's inaugural UK Robotics Week and proud to build on its success with this year's event. The UK Robotics Week provides a spotlight on the UK's technology leadership in RAS, and engages the nation's schools, colleges and universities in developing the digital skills needed to drive the UK's future economy. The UK Robotics Week also acts as a forum for discussion of technological, commercial, legal, ethical and social aspects of robotics. The wide range of events covered, from symposia, workshops, conferences, festivals, competitions and hackathons, contribute to a thriving programme across the country. We endeavour to provide promotion to other robotics related events in the calendar and aim to ensure robotics remains high on the government's agenda as one of the transformative technologies of the present and future. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://hamlyn.doc.ic.ac.uk/roboticsweek2017/welcome |
| Description | Workshop in the Hamlyn Symposium: Clinical Photonics |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | With increasing maturity and clinical uptake of Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS), the provision of technologies that provide in vivo morphological and functional characterisation beyond the exposed tissue surface has become an important research topic. Clinically, such technologies can further expand the functional capabilities of MIS in providing improved tissue detection, labelling, and targeting both at macro and cellular levels. Optical imaging and spectroscopy provide opportunities in this area, both in surgical environments and in other clinical scenarios (e.g. diagnostics, screening, monitoring, etc.). Point based spectroscopic approaches such as diffuse reflectance, Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy have been shown to be clinically useful for in vivo assessment of cancer, atherosclerosis and ischemia. Imaging techniques such as optical coherence tomography (OCT), probe-based Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy (pCLE), two photon excited fluorescence imaging, and fluorescence lifetime imaging have shown promising results for in vivo tissue characterisation for MIS. This workshop will bring clinicians together with researchers in academia and industry to exchange ideas on the current state-of-the-art and future trends in clinical applications of photonics. The scope of the workshop is broad and includes both established and emerging technologies based on optical imaging and spectroscopy. While a variety of photonic technologies and clinical applications will be discussed, the workshop will maintain a focus on devices that can be seamlessly integrated with the surgical environment and that can be compatible with robot-assisted interventions. It will also include online decision support, content-based image retrieval/association, and optical pathology to enable real-time, in vivo tissue characterisation. The workshop will include several invited talks, and we also welcome submissions from Symposium attendees. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Workshop in the Hamlyn Symposium: Emerging Learning Techniques for Robotics |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Learning is a rapidly advancing field in recent years, in terms of both methodological development and practical applications. In medical robotics, computational models are able to learn with supervision or without supervision to facilitate intricate medical interventions, i.e. cancer detection and autonomous suturing. It can implicitly capture task principles and repeat it with comparable accuracy, robustness and time-efficiency. Whilst some of the technical challenges are still being addressed, including generative modelling, large-scale parameter optimisation, and handling heterogeneous multi-modal data with varying temporal dependencies and missing samples, its use for medical robotics has reached marked success. Examples include the use of deep learning for tissue characterisation and the use of reinforcement learning for catheter manipulation. Other applications include surgical vision, navigation, learning, adaptation and task automation. The purpose of this workshop is to report the latest advances in the field of learning for medical robotics, addressing both original algorithmic development and new applications of deep learning. Topics for this special issue include, but are not limited to: Learning for surgical vision and navigation; Learning for tissue characterisation, optical biopsy and margin assessment; Learning for learning, adaptation and surgical task completion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.ukras.org/hamlyn/workshops/emerging-learning-techniques-for-robotics/ |
| Description | Workshop in the Hamlyn Symposium: Focused Energy Delivery & Precision Intervention |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Accessing to human anatomy through natural orifices or small incisions (keyholes), navigating through lumens of body, medical robotics are advancing to overcome challenges associated with access and precision, allowing rapid diagnostics and precise localization of diseases of different stages. As the surgical tools you can bring to the robotic surgical site is quite limited due to space restrictions, the energy source for the precise and safe removal of these malignancies should be carefully selected to satisfy a number of criteria such as adequate target tissue interaction, critical anatomy protection, selected ablation, coagulation and even helping tissue identification. Selected energy source potentially brings further challenges associated with flexible and low-profile delivery mechanisms to be integrated with existing robotic technologies as well as with the new technologies under development. In this workshop, we will hear from clinicians their preferred energy sources for different types of surgeries, what improvement they would like to see, and get their feedback on integration of these in robotic surgery, current state of art and their expectations from advancements in medial robotics. We will have technical talks on recent advancements in various energy sources currently used in medicine such as electrical, ultrasonic (harmonic scalpel, HIFU) and laser energies, their delivery mechanisms and the progress in integration of these technologies to medical robotics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019 |
| URL | https://www.ukras.org/hamlyn/workshops/focused-energy-delivery-precision-intervention/ |
| Description | Workshop in the Hamlyn Symposium: e-skins and Advanced Materials for Soft Robotics |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | There is a growing need for electronic and sensing devices that can conform to non-flat surfaces and that can accommodate mechanical motions and stresses. Such devices are needed for wearable electronics applications such as physiological monitoring of patients and athletes, but also for prosthetic devices (artificial limbs), robotics and brain-machine interfaces. There is a particular need for such electronic skins for surgical robotic devices. To introduce flexibility and stretchability, a move away from traditional materials and fabrication processes is needed. This has given rise to the field of flexible/stretchable electronics. This workshop will cover the aforementioned aspects within the context of realising e-skins that can introduce sensing intelligence to robotics, surgical tools, artificial limbs and wearable devices. The workshop features researchers from leading medical, science and technology institutions covering topics including clinical needs and the latest developments of sensing technologies and new materials in medical innovation and healthcare and their application to robotics. There is still great potential for advancing the state of the art, with a need for further miniaturisation, increased functionality, in situ computation and signal processing and sensing capabilities. What are the research directions we should focus? What are the challenges yet to be addressed? How does the future look? An open panel discussion will summarise these and bring the workshop to a conclusion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017,2018,2019 |
| URL | https://www.ukras.org/hamlyn/workshops/e-skins-and-advanced-materials-for-soft-robotics/ |
| Description | Workshop on Capillary Micromanipulation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our research team (Dr Antoine Barrot, Dr Dominic Wales, Prof. Eric Yeatman and Prof. Guang-Zhong Yang) presented the latest result on the topic of 'passive valve microfluidic chip on capillary tip toward nanoliter drug delivery and sampling' and had further discussion in 'breakout rooms discussions' session. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://events.femto-st.fr/wcm/en |
| Description | Workshop on Human-Robot Interactions Applied to Health |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | As part of the Hamlyn Symposium 10th anniversary on Medical Robotics, a workshop was run. This workshop was for academics, industry and show casing the latest technologies for medical robotics and latest research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.dropbox.com/s/5uobgz4tjq7c1ue/HSMR17_programme-FINAL.pdf?dl=0 |
| Description | Workshop on Image Guided Therapies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | As part of the Hamlyn Symposium 10th anniversary on Medical Robotics, a workshop was run. This workshop was for academics, industry and show casing the latest technologies for medical robotics and latest research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.dropbox.com/s/5uobgz4tjq7c1ue/HSMR17_programme-FINAL.pdf?dl=0 |
| Description | Workshop on Micro-Robotics and Micro-Fabrication |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | As part of the Hamlyn Symposium 10th anniversary on Medical Robotics, a workshop was run. This workshop was for academics, industry and show casing the latest technologies for medical robotics and latest research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.dropbox.com/s/5uobgz4tjq7c1ue/HSMR17_programme-FINAL.pdf?dl=0 |
| Description | Workshop on Next Generation Continuum Robots |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | As part of the Hamlyn Symposium 10th anniversary on Medical Robotics, a workshop was run. This workshop was for academics, industry and show casing the latest technologies for medical robotics and latest research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.dropbox.com/s/5uobgz4tjq7c1ue/HSMR17_programme-FINAL.pdf?dl=0 |
| Description | Workshop on Robotic Catheters |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | As part of the Hamlyn Symposium 10th anniversary on Medical Robotics, a workshop was run. This workshop was for academics, industry and show casing the latest technologies for medical robotics and latest research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.dropbox.com/s/5uobgz4tjq7c1ue/HSMR17_programme-FINAL.pdf?dl=0 |
| Description | Workshop on Soft Robotics Across Scales |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | As part of the Hamlyn Symposium 10th anniversary on Medical Robotics, a workshop was run. This workshop was for academics, industry and show casing the latest technologies for medical robotics and latest research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.dropbox.com/s/5uobgz4tjq7c1ue/HSMR17_programme-FINAL.pdf?dl=0 |
| Description | Workshop on Surgical Robotics: First in Human - What does it take? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | As part of the Hamlyn Symposium 10th anniversary on Medical Robotics, a workshop was run. This workshop was for academics, industry and show casing the latest technologies for medical robotics and latest research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://hamlyn.doc.ic.ac.uk/hsmr/surgical-robotics-first-human-what-does-it-take |
| Description | Workshop on Surgical Work?ow and Process Modelling |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | As part of the Hamlyn Symposium 10th anniversary on Medical Robotics, a workshop was run. This workshop was for academics, industry and show casing the latest technologies for medical robotics and latest research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.dropbox.com/s/5uobgz4tjq7c1ue/HSMR17_programme-FINAL.pdf?dl=0 |
| Description | X-Ray to MR: The Progress of Flexible Instruments for Endovascular Navigation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our publication "X-ray to MR: the progress of flexible instruments for endovascular navigation" was featured on the Hamlyn News via Imperial News platform. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/227773/x-ray-mr-the-progress-flexible-instruments/ |