Happy New Year.

The picture on the right is drawn by my nephew - How Yee using Paint in MS Windows XP. 2nd January 2008 is his first day in Primary School.

(Posted: 4th January 2008)

PhD (UTokyo), M.Sc., B.Sc. (Hon) (NUS)

Research Interests: medical engineering, medical robotics, simulation games

I am an Assistant Professor in the Control & Mechatronics Group, Department of Mechanical Engineering. I am interested in the research and development of engineering systems and science for medical and surgical applications. I have been working on computer aided surgery (or computer integrated and robot assisted surgery) for more than a decade.

The medical engineering projects that I am currently working on include a detachable laparoscopic system that has been tested on animal,  artificial disc implant for orthopaedic surgery, and micro-instrument for ENT surgeries. I am also involved in the development of a planning system for customized vascular stent graft deployment. These are medical device projects that have specific clinical applications. 

I took an integrated view on reality-based surgical simulator and robot assisted surgery. The former is a simulation game for surgical training and treatment planning. The latter deals directly with the patient during operation. However, they are not exclusive. There is a merger of these two topics with the advancement in instrumentation, computer hardware and software as well as medical imaging. A surgery is planned with a virtual robot using the simulator, and then executed on the patient using the robot, with the help of augmented reality technologies. We are developing a prototype system for hepatobiliary surgery.

This is an applied interdisciplinary science. There are aspects of mechanics, electronics, computing, and biology in my research. As much as I wish to see the clinical application of the medical systems/devices that I developed, I like to teach the engineering and science in these systems and devices.

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