Research

Our Smart Medical Devices Lab is actively engaged in research where our team designs, simulates, builds, and evaluates various smart devices across multiple domains. We concentrate on three areas of ongoing research: 1) medical diagnostic devices and surgical robots, 2) assistive technologies, and 3) rehabilitation/field robots. These projects have been central to the fulfillment of PI’s main goals at the UW Bothell: establishing a sustainable undergraduate research group while reaching our full potential in research and scholarly activities.

Research Topics/Recent Projects

• Influence of Visual and Haptic Feedback on the Detection of Threshold Forces in a Surgical Grasping Task
• Soft Robotic Articulation of a Flexible Image Retrieval System
• Safe and Easy Use of Public Restrooms for Wheelchair Patients
• Virtual Curvature Recognition: Haptic and Visual Sensory Integration
• Automated Urinary Bladder Surveillance System for Cancer Diagnosis
• A Flexible Gastric Gas sensor Based on Functionalized Optical Fiber
• A Laparoscopic Grasping Tool with Force Sensing Capability
• RAVEN Eyes Around the Instrument from Modular Axis Sharing
• Actuated Imaging Probe for Generation of Additional Visual Cues in a Robotic Surgery
• Robotics Approach for Rehabilitation of Stroke Patients with Upper Limb Deficits
• Development of a cross-disciplinary robot for enhancing recovery after stroke-induced hemispatial neglect
• Development of a Collaborative Robot-Assisted Ultrasound System for CPR
• A Comparative Study of Different Wheelchair-toilet Transfer Approaches to Reduce Caregiver’s Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (2023-2026)
• Toward next generation sleep positional system (in prep)
• A New Initiative for Enhancing Communication Skills: A Collaborative Teaching model between Four-year Engineering Programs and Two-year Technical Institutions (2025-2026)

Active Projects

Smart Wheelchair Projects (Assistive Technologies)	Human Perception Projects
Robot-assisted Ultrasound Projects	Rehabilitation Robot Projects

Completed Projects

Automated Diagnostics Projects	Soft Robotics Projects
Eye-on-tool Surgical Robotics Projects	Grasping Tool with Force Sensing Projects

* Example Images (Click images to switch to a larger image)

Research Collaborators

• Prof. Eric Seibel, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
• Prof. Jay Kim, Texas A&M University, USA
• Prof. Myong-Kee Jeong, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA
• Prof. Pierre Mourad, University of Washington, Bothell, USA
• Prof. Jody Early, University of Washington, Bothell, USA
• Prof. Blake Hannaford, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
• Prof. John B. Troy, Northwestern University, USA
• Prof. Hyouk Ryeol Choi, Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea
• Prof. Yoon Sang Kim, Korea University of Technology and Education, South Korea
• Prof. Per G. Reinhall, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
• Dr. Thomas S. Lendvay, M.D., University of Washington, School of Medicine and Seattle Children’s Hospital, Seattle, USA
• Dr. Sangtae Park, M.D., University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, Chicago, USA
• Prof. Sameer Sonkusale, Tufts University, USA
• Prof. Erika F. Parsons, University of Washington, Bothell, USA
• Dr. Robert M. Sweet, M.D., University of Washington Seattle, School of Medicine, Urology, USA
• Prof. Joel C. Perry, University of Idaho, USA
• Prof. Sanggyeun Ahn, the School of Art, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
• Prof. John-John Cabibihan, Qatar University, Qatar
• Dr. Julien Abi Nahed, Qatar Robotic Surgery Center (QRSC), Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP), Qatar
• Prof. Ji-Eun Kim, Industrial & Systems Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
• Dr. Younghoon Kwon, M.D., UW Medicine, Cardiovascular Critical Care Sleep Medicine, USA