Workshop - Pushing the boundaries

About

Medical robotics has a wide range of applications, from surgical to assistive and rehabilitation robotics, and draws on multiple disciplines like mechanics, haptics, computer vision, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and control. As medical robotics have become more and more tangible, the scientific community has worked to solve critical challenges and ensure that medical robots are safe, responsive, and remain stable and useful in medical practice.

Two main paradigms have emerged for the control of medical robots: Model-Based and AI Control Algorithms. Model-based controllers comprise well-established traditional and new advanced control methods to ensure robustness, safety, and reliability. AI-based methods benefit from the possibility of collecting large quantities of real and/or simulation data and using modern computation power resources to learn the desired behaviour. These methods have shown promise in redefining control design and pushing the boundaries of what is achievable in modern robotics.

Although data-driven techniques are becoming very popular, the knowledge of the model for a robotic system is still essential to handle the system's physics and mechanics and, ultimately, its behaviour. On top of that, learning safe human-robot interaction is crucial to shaping the physical intelligence of next-generation medical robots. The great contemporary challenge of robot control is to synergistically complement model-based control strategies with AI-based approaches for achieving intelligent, precise, and reliable control and decision-making of medical robotic systems.

This workshop aims to provide a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art technologies, solutions from both approaches and open challenges. It will bring together experts, researchers, and practitioners to discuss the latest advancements in these fields and encourage dialogue and collaborative discussions, culminating in a panel at the end of the workshop. The workshop will provide a platform for discussing the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches, identifying potential knowledge gaps, and exploring opportunities for merging the benefits of these approaches.

Call for Abstracts

We invite potential participants to submit a 1-page PDF abstract related to the workshop topic via email to Raffaella Mancino (raffaella.mancino@edu.unige.it).

Accepted authors will have the opportunity to present their work in a poster session.

Important Dates

Abstract Submission Deadline: April 24, 2025

Notification of Acceptance: Within 5 days of submission

Program

Time	Activity
08:30 – 08:40	🗣️ Welcome Introduction
08:40 – 09:00	🎤 Towards Force-Aware Autonomous Robotic Surgery - Alaa Eldin Abdelaal
09:00 – 09:20	🎤 Soft magnetic surgical robots for cancer-related applications - Michael Brockdorff
09:20 – 09:40	🎤 Model-Based Lower-Limb Prosthesis Control Methods - Rachel Gehlhar Humann
09:40 – 10:00	🎤 High-level Controllers for Rehabilitative Exoskeletons - Michele Francesco Penna
10:00 – 10:30	☕ Coffee Break
10:30 – 10:50	🎤 Intelligent and MRI-Compatible Endovascular Robotics - Giulio Dagnino
10:50 – 11:10	🎤 Contact-Aware Autonomous Medical Robots - Giovanni Pittiglio
11:10 – 11:30	🎤 Giving a Magnetic Taste to Medical Robotics - Federico Masiero
11:30 – 12:00	📋 Poster Teaser
12:00 – 12:15	💬 Final Remarks

Pushing the boundaries

Safe and intelligent medical robotics

About

Call for Abstracts

Organizers

Speakers

Program