Professor Federica Ferraguti - AI-Driven Medical Robotics: Enhancing Surgical Precision and Patient Outcomes

Talk Abstract:

The field of surgery is being revolutionized by Artificial Intelligence and robotics, offering innovative solutions for both diagnosis and assistance during procedures.
This seminar will provide examples of AI application for the automated diagnosis of surgical diseases, exploring how advanced algorithms can analyze medical images and patient data to identify pathologies with high accuracy and precision.
Furthermore, we will examine the role of robotic assistance in supporting surgeons during procedures. By integrating AI-based systems, robotic platforms can offer greater precision, dexterity, and visualization, ultimately leading to improved surgical outcomes.
Specific use cases will be discussed: ultrasonographic-guided robotic-assisted percutaneous nephrolithotomy and the development of a trustworthy robotic assistant for improved minimally invasive surgery.

Biography:

Federica Ferraguti is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy. She received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Management Engineering from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy) in 2008 and 2011, respectively, and her Ph.D. in Industrial Innovation Engineering from the same university in 2015. She was a Visiting Researcher at the Rehabilitation Engineering Lab at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, in 2013.
Her research deals with surgical robotics, collaborative robotics, industrial robotics, augmented reality, teleoperation, control of robotic systems, human-robot physical interaction, and learning from demonstration. She received the "Fabrizio Flacco Young Author Best Paper Award 2017" from the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society – Italian Chapter.
She has participated in numerous national and European projects and research activities funded by industries. She was involved in the FAR2022 project "Robot-assisted percutaneous nephrolithotomy with ultrasound guidance and 3D reconstruction overlay" as Principal Investigator and in the PRIN2022 project "Predictive modelling of omics biomarkers in temporal lobe epilepsy: a comprehensive multidisciplinary and translational approach from rodents to humans" as Associate Principal Investigator. She was awarded a FIS2 Starting Grant for the project "Trustworthy Robotic Assistant for Improved Minimally Invasive Surgery" (Fondo Italiano per la Scienza, Ministry of University and Research). She is the author of over 50 scientific papers and an inventor on 5 patents.