Surgical Robotics Lab
The Surgical Robot Vision Group at the Centre for Medical Image Computing (CMIC) and UCL Department of Computer Science, performs computer vision research specifically applied to surgery and robotic assisted surgery. Their particular focus is on developing real-time algorithms for computing the 3D geometry and motion of the anatomy, surgical camera and instruments, and for combining this information with preoperative and intraoperative imaging modalities and other surgical sensors.
Combined with the world leading clinical research at UCL, the Surgical Robot Vision Group aims to translate their computational methods and technology into the operating room enabling less invasive and more accurate surgical procedures that improve healthcare outcomes and benefit the patient.
Bartlett Manufacturing and Design Exchange (BMADE)
B-made, the Bartlett Manufacturing and Design Exchange, is a multidisciplinary centre that strives to foster the next generation of thinkers, designers and makers. B-made invites academia, industry and the public to engage with new and traditional tools, processes and materials. Our aim is to stimulate work generated by merging crafts with science and technology, and make a shift towards a new learning model. B-made underlines The Bartlett’s role as a national and international resource for innovation in design and manufacturing.
The Centre for Robotics Research (CoRe)at King's College London deals with a broad range of topics, covering: Robotics and Automation, Robotic Surgery and Robotic Rehabilitation, Medical Robotic Devices, Robotic Handling and Manipulation Systems, Kinematics and Mechanisms, Sensing, Monitoring and Inspection Systems. The tour will introduce CoRe labs to the visitors, where members of the group will demonstrate their achievements in robotics.
Our multidisciplinary research aims to develop intelligent automated and robotic systems for the non-destructive testing and inspection of large critical infrastructure, often located in remote and hazardous environments.
Our work incorporates the following research areas:
- Automated and Robotic Non-destructive Testing
- Magnetic Materials and Systems
- Orthotics to Assist the Disabled and Elderly
We research and develop wall climbing, swimming, pipe crawling and mobile robots to deploy a range of NDT techniques for industrial inspection in the nuclear, petro-chemical, food processing, energy and aviation industries.
Our expertise is in ultrasound modelling, mechatronics, robotics, control engineering, magnetics, orthotics and telecommunications.
The robotics team at LSBU will demonstrate a number of our climbing robots. These are:
- HUNTER Wall climber that uses permanent magnetic adhesion to climb.
- CROCELLS Wall Climbing NDT robot to inspect long weld lines with phased array ultrasound
- STRONGMAN Wall Climbing robot that is being used to demonstrate laser cutting for nuclear decommissioning work
- VORTEXSCAN robot that uses vacuum created by a vortex to climb on any type of surface with payload capability of 7 kg
- A small vortex crawler.
- Videos of our swimming robots ROBTANK, FPSO, RIMINI
- Posters of our current H2020 FTI projects WINSPECTOR, TANKROB, RISERSURE.
The robotics, control and optimisation group at QMUL is currently focused on two major areas – aerial robotics and surgical robotics
Aerial robotics is a fast growing field with a wide array of potential application areas from package delivery to precision agriculture. The first ever solar-powered helicopter (Solarcopter) was designed and built at QMUL as a proof of concept. Current effort is geared towards enhancing the robustness of the system for improved energy management and flight controls. Our aim is to build systems capable of handling the disturbances and uncertainties associated with real world outdoor environment, and achieve extended stable flight.
The surgical robotics group is working on master-slave surgical robots as well as capsule robot for minimally invasive procedures such as gastro-intestinal tract screening. Current surgical robots are both massive and expensive. Our goal is to develop lower cost surgical systems with comparable or even improved performance using robust control paradigms.
