Pint of Robotics: Ali Abdi, Charles Delorey, Tom Milner

Speaker 1: Ali Abdi (CEO/Co-founder of CAST3D)

Bio: Ali is a University of Leeds alumnus, having received his Masters of Engineering degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 2013. Since then, he has worked as an additive manufacturing consultant for the likes of Johnson and Johnson and Additive Design, before becoming the CEO and co-founder of CAST3D in 2021 – which produce custom, patient-tailored wrist splints for optimal comfort and injury healing.

Abstract: TBD

Speaker 2: Charles Delorey (School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering)

Title: Hall Effect-Based Tactile Sensor for Force Detection in Robot-Assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery

Bio: Prior to the PhD, Charles completed his Masters in Research (MRes) in Medical Robotics at The Hamlyn Centre at Imperial College London, London, UK. Before moving to the United Kingdom, he completed his BSc in Computer Science at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, USA. Currently, Charlie is a third year PhD student (PGR) in the STORM Lab in the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering. His PhD topic focuses on soft force and tactile sensing for surgical robotics, emphasising multi-axis sensing and force sensing for autonomy. His research interests range from force sensing, soft sensing more broadly, soft robotics, and programming languages.

Abstract: Robotic minimally invasive surgery has revolutionised surgical practice. However, as surgeons are mechanically separated from the surgical tools, loss of force feedback occurs. This talk will present a compact force sensor with three, millimetre-scale sensing elements (taxels) that can be affixed to the grasping face of a robotic surgical tool. The sensor features a miniaturized design using Hall effect sensors and magnets embedded in a deformable elastomer contact layer. Sensor calibration is achieved with a high precision 6 degree-of- freedom parallel robot and a neural network fit. Each taxel can detect applied normal and shear forces. The calibrated sensor was validated on phantom and ex vivo porcine tissue, demonstrating force sensing during tissue retraction as well as tissue slip. This work introduces a small-scale Hall effect based tactile sensor, enabling sensing for force-sensitive robotic surgical applications.

Speaker 3: Tom Milner (Software Engineer at Stint, London)

Title: A (Speedy) Inchworm Pipe-Traversal Robot Based on Anisotropic Friction and Cylindrical Cams

Bio: Tom completed his BEng in Electronics and Computer Engineering at Leeds before pursuing an MSc(Eng) in Robotics and Mechatronics, where he fell into the worm-hole of design engineering, 3D printing, and space-constrained robotics, and came out of it with the weirdest looking robot he’d ever seen. Tom now works as a software engineer in London but remains an avid mechatronics hobbyist, and is running out of reasons to not apply for a PhD!

Abstract: Laying fibre optic cables in underground cable ducts can be tedious - this project aimed to produce a small robot that could make it easier. By utilising passive anisotropic friction, a (seemingly) novel actuation method, some (questionable) calculus and some custom Fusion360 plugins we were able to create an inchworm robot capable of travelling 234 mm/s through a 50mm ID duct, making the robot the fastest of its size in the literature. Come along to see the process of designing and building the robot, as well as the fun testing that took place at BTs Adastral Park R&D hub.