Vibro-acoustic sensing for enhanced robotic pedicle screw placement

(ref. BAP-2021-708)

Laatst aangepast : 21/09/2021

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 team offers 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.

Robotics is widely considered as a key enabler to improve and standardize patient outcome but 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.

Profile

• Candidates must hold an engineering diploma that givesaccess to the KU Leuven Arenberg Doctoral School PhD program (MSc degreeobtained “cum laude” or equivalent).
• We are seeking a highly motivated and goal-orientedcandidate with a strong background in electromechanics, vibro-acoustics, machinelearning, mechatronics, and/or biomedical engineering.
  
• Experience in structural dynamics and numerical modelling, machine learning, mechanical design is advantageous.
  
• Good problem solving skills is definitely a bonus
  
• Candidates must be fluent in English.
  
• The candidate must be a team player.

Offer

The Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium is 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].

KU Leuven seeks to foster an environment where all talents can flourish, regardless of gender, age, cultural background, nationality or impairments. If you have any questions relating to accessibility or support, please contact us at [email protected].