Postgraduate Studentships
Proposed Project Title: TELERETI – Enabling Technology for Tele-operated Retinal Surgery
Principal Supervisor:  Dr Stuart Ferguson

Project Description:

Retinal surgery is the most demanding ophthalmologic discipline and addresses a number of sight-threatening conditions, which are growing due to population ageing.  The micro-scale and fragility of the human eye, in addition to physical limitations (hand tremor, ergonomics), lack of force information, and significant cognitive impairment during the execution of risky procedures, are factors that call for substantial innovation of retinal surgical procedures. The TELERETI projects aims at developing an innovative robotic tele-operated retinal surgical system which embeds haptic feedback capabilities in conjunction with force-sensing forceps to enhance the surgical experience and resulting outcomes

Objectives: The main objective is to develop multi-sensorial feedback technology to extend surgeons’ ability to perform precise and delicate teleoperated microsurgical movements. Capabilities to be developed include:

A) algorithms for real-time tracking of tool-to-tissue interactions;
B) algorithms for real-time tremor reduction and motion scaling;

Task A: Motion and force scaling

This task will investigate the extension of existing cooperative control algorithms and develop an appropriate demonstrator platform on which to test the algorithms developed. The algorithms will also be endowed to recognize and cancel the effect of operator tremor, or out-of-band movements, whilst maintaining the center of rotation at the eye entry point. Approaches to be considered include the support Vector Machine,

Task B: Safety enhancement for tele-operated microsurgery tasks

It is the purpose of this task to develop algorithms that can detect sudden movement and out of band forces at the tool’s working end, and at the eye (the center of rotation) and send alerts to the master console.

There may be an opportunity to explore collaborative research with a laboratory in the United States.

Academic Requirements:

A minimum 2.1 honours degree or equivalent in Computer Science or Electrical and Electronic Engineering or relevant degree is required.

GENERAL INFORMATION

This 3 year PhD studentship, potentially funded by the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL), commences on 1 October 2015.

Eligibility for both fees and maintenance (£13,863 in 2014/15, 2015/16 TBC) depends on the applicants being either an ordinary UK resident or those EU residents who have lived permanently in the UK for the 3 years immediately preceding the start of the studentship. Non UK residents who hold EU residency may also apply but if successful may receive fees only.

Please note: DEL awards are available for Home and EU candidates only.

Applicants should apply electronically through the Queen’s online application portal at:
https://dap.qub.ac.uk/portal/

Further information available at:
http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/eeecs/StudyattheSchool/PhDProgrammes

Contact detail

Supervisor Name: Dr. R.S. Ferguson
Tel: +44 (0)28 9097 4270
QUB Address: School of EEECS
Email: r.ferguson<στο>ee.qub.ac.uk
Stranmillis Road
Belfast BT95AH

Deadline for submission of applications is : 27^th February 2015

For further information on Research Area click on link below:
http://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/EPIC/