Student topics

When operating with a tool within the human body in the context of a medical procedure, it is crucial to be able to keep track of the pose of the tool. This project will develop a hybrid approach to end effector pose estimation by combing optical tracking with other sensor inputs (e.g. force, sound, acoustic emissions) to compliment and improve tracking accuracy with applications towards orthopaedic surgical robots. This project is part of a broader collaboration with industry partner Stryker.

Study level

PhD

School

School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering

Research centre(s)

Centre for Biomedical Technologies

This project develops a new approach to ultrasonic sensing, sending and receiving high frequency acoustic pulses from a low frequency platform to modulate spectral content and microscale spatial offsets. In doing so, it will give surgical robotics platforms access to the rich array of physical information in acoustic pulses, which can be used to characterise tissues encountered during surgery and guide the robot in the intervention itself.

Study level

PhD

School

School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering

Research centre(s)

Centre for Biomedical Technologies

An active stroke rehabilitation orthotic is needed to assist the multitude of people affected by stroke each year. Several prototype hardware systems have been constructed, so we know the concept is feasible. Development for medical approval and manufacture is needed. Plus, artificial intelligence that adapts the rehabilitation strategies to help users

Study level

PhD

School

School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics

Research centre(s)

Centre for Robotics

Robotic knee surgery can perform femoral and tibial resection. Currently it is not possible to use robotic technology for patella preparation; to do so will require miniaturisation of tracking, effective clamping of the patella and controlled use of a saw. This project will aim to develop the technology for any small bone resection with a robot, taking the patella as a test case.

Study level

PhD

School

School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering

Research centre(s)

Centre for Biomedical Technologies

Robotics has a positive impact on surgical procedures. This is particularly the case with minimally invasive surgeries. In these procedures, there is a need for compact tools that can be inserted through a tiny opening but are versatile in function. This project will look at the design of dexterous alternatives to traditional surgical tools within this context. Methods to vary the workspace and stiffness of the tool will be investigated by combining inspiration from the design of miniature biological joints …

Study level

PhD

School

School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics

Research centre(s)

Centre for Robotics

Programming robots to carry out desired tasks is difficult and time-consuming. This PhD project focuses on collaborative and instructional dialogue agents to help human operators program robot tasks.In this collaborative scenario, a human operator converses with an AI agent to explain the steps that are to be performed, using high-level references and abstractions that make sense to the human, as opposed to simple verbal instructions corresponding to rudimentary robot movements. The AI agent must interpret the high-level instructions and translate …

Study level

PhD

School

School of Design

Research centre(s)

Design Lab

I am looking for highly motivated and talented PhD students to work with us on robot localisation and navigation. The students would join my DECRA Fellowship project "Adaptive and Efficient Robot Positioning Through Model and Task Fusion" funded by the Australian Research Council, which provides substantial top-up scholarships in addition to QUT's tax-free base stipend.Robot positioningWhere are you? This is a fundamental question to which most of us usually know the answer. And so do the birds singing in our …

Study level

PhD

School

School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics

Research centre(s)

Centre for Robotics

How can robots best learn to navigate in challenging environments and execute complex tasks, such as tidying up an apartment or assist humans in their everyday domestic chores?Often, hand-written architectures are based on complicated state machines that become intractable to design and maintain with growing task complexity. I am interested in developing learning-based approaches that are effective and efficient and scale better to complicated tasks.Especially learning based on semantic information (such as extracted by the research in semantic SLAM above), …

Study level

PhD

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics

Pandemics such as COVID 19 have forced organisations to pursue hyper-automation to maintain operational sustainability. Many organisations are keen to adopt Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to dramatically improve operational efficiency. However, evidence to date highlighted various associated challenges associated with adoption of RPA in organisations.Furthermore, recent surveys by consultant organisations found a high RPA project fail rate and their inability to meet the expected return on investment.

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Information Systems

Research centre(s)

Centre for Future Enterprise

Accurately mapping large-scale infrastructure assets (power poles, bridges, buildings, whole suburbs and cities) is still exceptionally challenging for robots.The problem becomes even harder when we ask robots to map structures with intricate geometry or when the appearance or the structure of the environment changes over time, for example due to corrosion or construction activity.The problem difficulty is increased even more when sensor data from a range of different sensors (e.g. lidars and cameras, but also more specialised hardware such as …

Study level

PhD

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics

Research centre(s)

Centre for Robotics

Microfluidic devices are increasingly relied upon to address the complexity of in-vitro disease models that are intended to mimic and provide insight into in-vivo processes and reactions to novel therapies and in turn, can become powerful companion diagnostic devices essential for predicting and individual patient’s reaction to a particular treatment. However, as these microfluidic devices become more and more prominent and necessary for addressing the drug screening and disease modeling needs of the industry, we have observed a lack in …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering

Research centre(s)

Centre for Biomedical Technologies

Everything that moves is defined and limited by its ability to navigate the world in which it exists. Knowing where you are located in the world is a key navigational capability for people, animals, and both autonomous and human-operated platforms ranging from self-driving cars to aircraft.But accurate and trustworthy positional knowledge has widespread potential implications beyond navigation: it can, for example, allow life-and-death decisions in defence and in tracking the spread of global pandemics. Both the potential of and problems …

Study level

Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics

Research centre(s)

Centre for Robotics