Open Positions
From WPI Automation and Interventional Medicine (AIM) Robotics Laboratory
We are always looking for new members. Please contact Professor Fischer if you are interested in getting involved with any of the current research work.
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Undergraduate Student Projects and Research
Major Qualifying Project - MQP, Interactive Qualifying Project - IQP, and Independent Study Project - ISP projects will be available on this page.
If you have ideas for a project that you would like to pursue, or if you are from industry and would like to sponsor a project, please contact Professor Fischer.
MQP: Pneumatic Actuator Development for MRI Robots
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is an ideal interventional guidance modality: it provides near real-time high-resolution images at arbitrary orientations and is able to monitor therapeutic agents, surgical tools, biomechanical tissue properties, and physiological function. At the same time, MRI poses formidable engineering challenges by severely limited access to the patient and high magnetic field that prevents the use of conventional materials and electronic equipment. Traditional actuators are often contraindicated by the strong magnetic and electric fields present in the MRI scanner bore. Further, it is critical that the devices not introduce noise or distortion into the acquired images. Pneumatic actuators are ideal in that they can be completely compatible; however, they are notoriously difficult to control precisely. The focus of this project is to develop a pneumatic linear stepping motor with integrated position sensing that provides high-precision motion with high reliability. Components of this project include: surveying existing technologies, modeling and designing the actuator, constructing the hardware, and developing a self contained controller circuit. The endpoint will be evaluating the actuator in the MRI scanner at UMass med.
MQP: Force Sensing and Haptic Feedback for Robotic Surgery
Robot assisted surgery has become more widespread in recent years. The DaVinci Robot from Intuitive Surgical in particular has drawn great interest. Robotic surgery with this system is essentially a robot-assisted version of laparoscopic surgery. However, the trade off for the enhanced precision, dexterity and visualization is the loss of tactile feedback. We intend to investigate methods of accurately and practically measuring surgical tool interaction forces and determining how best to present these to the operator.
MQP: Robot Modeling and Controller Development
We have a pair of 4-axis high-speed industrial robots that were recently acquired. The robots have integrated position sensing and are powered by DC servo motors. This project is focused on a full system development of a controller for these robots from scratch. Components of the project will include: 1) modeling the kinematics and dynamics of the robots, 2) developing custom hardware to interface with the robot connections, 3) developing the controller electronics, 4) implementing low-level controllers that allow for joint level and Cartesian position control, velocity control, and force control, and 5) developing an interface to the robot. The endpoint of the project is a robot controller suitable for use as an active research platform. Other related projects include development of end effectors and control algorithms (specifically ones taking advantage of a pair of identical robots working together on a common task).
IQP: Perceptions of Robots in Surgery
This IQP will be focused on collecting and analyzing patient and physician perceptions of the use of robots in surgery. The specific focus is on evaluating how patients and doctors feel about the daVinci robot in prostate surgery. The end goal is to see what factors play into patients and physicians selecting/promoting this treatment option, determining what misconceptions exist about the technology, and determining how to best overcome them.
Graduate Student Research
If you are interested in applying to the doctoral program at WPI, please see the Graduate Admissions web page.
Potential Directed Research projects and Dissertation Research topics will be available on this page.
Postdoctoral Research
Sorry, we do not have any available positions at this time.
Staff Engineers
Sorry, we do not have any available positions at this time.
