Vibro-acoustic sensing for enhanced robotic pedicle screw placement

(ref. BAP-2022-540)

Laatst aangepast : 13/07/2022

Research of the Department of Mechanical Engineering addresses the most important societal challenges including sustainable energy supply, mobility, healthcare and industrial innovation. The Department is involved in a large amount of regional, national and international research projects and it strongly connected to the technology transfer services of the university and with Flemish and European research institutes for technology transfer. The successful applicant will become part of the Smart Instrumentation team of the division of Biomechanical Engineering, and of the Robot Assisted Surgery (RAS) group, both in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Smart Instrumentation and RAS are growing, multi-disciplinary groups with a strong emphasis on the development of new surgical instruments and assistive technology for medical applications, integrating novel sensing and modelling techniques to improve the execution of complex safety-critical tasks in highly unstructured and variable environments such as e.g. the human body. The teams offer a positive and dynamic work environment embedded in a multi-disciplinary network with other research groups in the Department, the broader university and UZ Leuven, the University Hospital, which is also the largest hospital in the country.

Project

This PhD opening fits in the FAROS–project on Functionally Accurate RObotic Surgery, aiming at improving functional accuracy through embedding physical intelligence in surgical robotics. 

Today, autonomy is mostly non-existent in commercial surgical robots. Modern robotic approaches target absolute geometric precision, but in the context of surgery, functional accuracy, i.e. relative to target anatomic and functional structures, is what matters. FAROS will construct a functional representation of the surgical task fusing key non-visual sensing, using machine learning to interpret intraoperative data.

Vibro-acoustics is one key non-visual sensing method, using vibrational and acoustic information. Vibro-acoustics already has shown its merits in the assessment of fixation of orthopaedic and dental implants. This PhD project aims at developing a vibro-acoustic method to detect imminent bone breach during robotic pedicle screw placement. Moreover, it will be investigated whether vibro-acoustic data can predict the quality of the bone tissue, predicting the possible fixation of pedicle screws. To this end, different probabilistic models can be derived each with their own predictive power. The validity and predictive power of the most promising models will be verified experimentally. Sensor fusion can be applied to elevate the confidence, accuracy and robustness of the parameter estimates.

The doctoral project also includes limited educational and writing tasks (publications e.g.). 

Profile

•Candidates must hold an engineering diploma that gives access to the KU Leuven Arenberg Doctoral School PhD program (MSc degree obtained “cum laude” or equivalent).

•We are seeking a highly motivated and goal-oriented candidate with a strong background in electromechanics, vibro-acoustics, machine learning, mechatronics, and/or biomedical engineering.

•Experience in structural dynamics and numerical modelling, machine learning, mechanical design is advantageous.

•Candidates must be fluent in English and must be able to work independently.

•Good problem-solving skills and good communication skills are a bonus. 

•The candidate must be a team player.

Offer

We are pleased to offer a fully funded PhD scholarship to develop vibro-acoustic sensing methods for enhanced robotic pedicle screw placement. The successful applicant will receive a 1-year PhD scholarship which can be extended to 4 years after successful evaluation at year 1. 

Interested?

For more information please contact Prof. dr. ir. Kathleen Denis, tel.: +32 16 30 10 77, mail: [email protected] or Prof. dr. ir. Emmanuel Vander Poorten, tel.: +32 16 32 25 28, mail: [email protected].

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