Robert Webster
Quest to develop fully autonomous surgical robot attracts award up to $12 million from ARPA-H
Sep. 24, 2024—A surgical robot capable of performing an entire surgery without human intervention: That’s the goal of a landmark, multi-institution project being led by a Vanderbilt engineer that recently received an award up to $12 million in funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H).
VISE affiliates participate in Vanderbilt Innovation Ambassadors Program
Oct. 17, 2022—The Vanderbilt Innovation Ambassadors Program is an initiative to provide Vanderbilt and Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers with better peer-delivered access to assistance and information about innovation and entrepreneurship on campus
Surgical robots developed by Vanderbilt researchers could make radical prostatectomy safer and less invasive
Feb. 10, 2021—Researchers at the Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering have developed a minuscule robot that could revolutionize surgical procedures for treating prostate cancer, which affects one in nine men in the United States. Using a lifelike model, the team demonstrated that the surgical robot could not only remove the prostate gland and tissues through the urethra,...
Tennessee companies pivot, innovate in the warlike effort to defeat coronavirus
Apr. 9, 2020—Life-saving ventilators have proved to be more complicated to mass produce in time for a COVID-19 surge that could overwhelm the health care industry. Many are feverishly working to find ways, including Vanderbilt University engineers and doctors, to develop a low-cost do-it-yourself ventilator out of common household materials.
Hand-held robot points to less invasive prostate surgery
Jul. 18, 2019—Vanderbilt collaborators focused on minimally invasive prostate surgery are developing an endoscopic robotic system with two-handed dexterity at a much smaller scale than existing options.
VISE team seeks to develop new robot to ease prostatectomies
Apr. 15, 2019—The Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering (VISE) team of Robert Webster III, PhD, and Duke Herrell, MD, have received a $2.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a new surgical robot for endoscopic transurethral prostatectomy.
Endowed chair holder celebration honors eight faculty members
Mar. 1, 2019—Vanderbilt University’s eight newest endowed chair holders were celebrated for their path-breaking scholarship and research by family members, donors, colleagues and friends during a Feb. 25 ceremony at the Student Life Center.
Vanderbilt Engineers Building Robots For Minimally-Invasive Lung Surgery
Jul. 20, 2018—Bouncing back from surgery is no easy task. But what if a robot could make an incision so small, you’d barely notice it? The next generation of medical robots are being built right here in Nashville.
VISE takes SPIE Medical Imaging 2018 by storm
Mar. 2, 2018—Research is a huge component of involvement with Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering (VISE) but affiliation also comes with sharing that research and meeting like-minded scientists to make significant impacts in healthcare. Each year VISE participates in the SPIE Medical Imaging meeting, which is internationally recognized as the premier forum for relating state-of-the-art research...
Highlighting SPIE 2018 student presentations – James Ferguson
Mar. 2, 2018—James Ferguson is a mechanical engineering graduate student in the Medical Engineering and Discovery (MED) Lab, said presenting at SPIE Medical Imaging this year was “a fantastic experience for me from a professional development standpoint.” As lead author, Ferguson presented the paper titled, “Toward image-guided partial nephrectomy with the da Vinci robot: exploring intraoperative re-...
VISE team wins $1.4 million NIH grant to reboot robotic surgery system
Nov. 2, 2017—A Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering (VISE) team is developing an image guidance interface for the da Vinci robotic surgery system to make partial kidney removal a less invasive “gold standard” when small tumors are involved.
A collaboration between VISE and the Wond’ry results in a five-year, $500K NSF grant
Sep. 6, 2017—The Wond’ry, in collaboration with the Vanderbilt Institute in Surgery and Engineering, recently won a five-year, $500,000 National Science Foundation grant to become an Innovation Corps site.The designation marks Vanderbilt as one of the premier academic institutions nationwide that nurture entrepreneurship. The I-Corps site grant will support programs to match students and faculty with teams of experienced...
From Food & Wine: A Coffee Hat Could Make Nose and Throat Surgery Easier
Jul. 10, 2017—Engineers at Vanderbilt University designed the coffee-filled swim cap. Coffee is having its moment in 2017: This year researchers have discovered that it repairs damage to the liver, its one of the best beverages to drink before working out, and even helps prevent your arteries from clogging. (Well, all of that is according to a few studies, anyway.) Now, apparently...
MED Lab members attend International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Jun. 28, 2017—Three members of the Vanderbilt Medical Engineering and Discovery Lab (MEDLab) attended the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) last week in Singapore. Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Robert Webster, the lab director, was invited to give a talk on his recent research, while Ph.D. student Patrick Anderson and postdoctoral scholar Loris Fichera each...
How six cups of ground coffee can improve nose, throat surgery
Jun. 22, 2017—Imagine plopping six cups of coffee grounds on the heads of patients just before they are wheeled into the operating room to have nose or throat surgery? In essence, that is what a team of Vanderbilt University engineers are proposing in an effort to improve the reliability of the sophisticated “GPS” system that surgeons use...
Vanderbilt engineers use coffee grounds to develop novel surgical tool
Jun. 21, 2017—Imagine plopping six cups of coffee grounds on the heads of patients just before they are wheeled into the operating room to have nose or throat surgery? In essence, that is what a team of Vanderbilt University engineers are proposing in an effort to improve the reliability of the sophisticated “GPS” system that surgeons use...
Surgery of the Future
Mar. 13, 2017—Surgery of the Future is an interactive experience that highlights research technologies funded by NIBIB that improve surgical procedures. Move through a virtual operating room to learn about technologies including new imaging tools, robotics, biomaterials, and more. Robert Webster’s research is featured.
Brain Surgery Robots
Jan. 30, 2017—Ground breaking technology that enables robots to perform high-risk surgeries more safely shows that robotic surgical tools play a major role in the future of medicine. Robert Webster, PhD., explains the groundbreaking Intracerebral Hemorrhage (ICH robot) he and his MED Lab team are developing.
Vanderbilt is at the forefront of robotic surgery
Sep. 9, 2016—Robots are used in many large hospitals to deliver supplies and assist doctors with delicate surgical procedures. In the future, robotic surgery will become the routine rather than the exception. Some of those tools of tomorrow are being developed today at Vanderbilt University’s Medical Engineering and Discovery Lab (MED). It is one of several labs...
VISE names first fellow: Smita De explores the intersection of surgery and engineering
Sep. 8, 2016—The Vanderbilt Institute in Surgery and Engineering is pleased to announce its first VISE Fellow, a biomedical engineer and M.D. who specializes in urology and spent a research year at the manufacturer of the da Vinci surgical robot. Smita De first developed an interest in medical device development as an undergraduate at Duke University, majoring...