VISE affiliate wins Best Student Paper Award at ISMR2018
Two graduate student affiliates of the Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering were recognized for their innovative work at the inaugural IEEE International Symposium in Medical Robotics.
Nicolo Garbin, a graduate student in mechanical engineering and member of the STORM Lab, won the Best Student Paper Award as lead author for the paper, “A Disposable Continuum Endoscope Using Piston-driven Parallel Bellow Actuator.”
“The award is the results of a great team effort that involves people at Vanderbilt University and at the University of Leeds,” Garbin said.
The STORM Lab designs and creates miniature non-invasive capsule robots used in colonoscopies and abdominal surgeries.
Garbin said he was grateful to all the co-authors and “would particularly like to thank Long Wang (ARMA Lab member) for all the hours spent together during evenings and weekends to help making this work valuable.”
Rashid Yasin, a graduate student in mechanical engineering, was a finalist for the same award for his paper titled, “Using Continuum Robots for Force-controlled Semi-autonomous Organ Exploration and Registration.”
A member of the ARMA Lab, Yasin says his research helps refine the abilities of continuum and flexible robotic structures to explore soft anatomy during minimally invasive procedures.
“I am honored by the nomination,” he said. “Attending ISMR was a great opportunity to meet with and see the work of many of the leaders of the medical robotic field. This is the first year of the conference and I am looking forward to attending in future years as it grows in size and impact.”
The STORM and ARMA Lab, with its focus on design modeling and control of robotics for medical applications, collaborate frequently. Their proximity – both are housed on the same floor in Olin Hall – supports smooth communication and efficient task management, Garbin said.
The symposium was held in Atlanta. Organizers plan to make ISMR an annual event that brings together engineering, medicine, and industry experts in medical robotics to create a forum for exchanging ideas and fostering developments in the field.