My Research Group

Our research program on Medical Devices, Robotics, Imaging, and Simulations are supported by research grants from various sources. I am grateful to the support from funding agencies, as well as my collaborators and colleagues.

Our work typically involves designing and building mechanisms, implementing control systems and then optimizing the intelligent systems for specific application. There are aspects of mechanics, electronics, computing and medicine involved in our work. Between 2011 and 2016, we had an almost equal distribution of publications in Engineering, Computer Science and Medicine (Source: SciVal – 26 July 2016). The advances in cyber-physical systems and AI technologies in recent years have created many possibilities. Since 2015, we have been developing these technologies to build smarter and more intelligent systems and solutions. Below is a treemap showing the distribution of our publications by subject between 2018 and 2023 (Source: SciVal – 21 June 2023).

Our non-medical projects include robot-assisted cable binding for shipbuilding with Sembcorp Marine, intelligent thermal control of data centers in collaboration with A/Prof PS Lee of the Thermal Division, and automation of drug discovery and development in collaboration with colleagues from Chemical Engineering and Chemistry departments.

We can broadly represent our scientific contribution using the following keywords: Cyber-physical Systems; Imaging, vision, and graphics; Interaction, Virtual/Augmented Reality, and Simulations; Learning-based Control; Mechanics of tissue and biomedical materials; Medical Devices; Robotics; and Variational Methods. In many cases, there are overlaps in two or more areas. For example, we developed a new constitutive model for the liver organ, enabling realistic tissue deformation in medical simulation and accurate needle insertion in robot-assisted surgery.

Dr Chng Chin Boon, Research Fellow

Dr Chng is assisting me in the supervision and mentoring of our research staff and students.

1. Dr Wong Pooi Mun, Research Fellow (Dec 2023 – Present)
2. Dr Dinh Viet Sang, NUS Fellow (SEA) (Nov 2022 – Apr 2023)
3. Dr Lin Qinjie, Research Fellow (Jan 2022 – Dec 2023)

1. Zhang Qingang, PhD candidate (Mechanical Engineering) – main supervisor
2. Soon Ren Jun, PhD student (Mechanical Engineering) – supervisor
3. Huang Yunqi, MEng student (Mechanical Engineering) – supervisor
4. Zeng Wei, MEng student (Mechanical Engineering) – supervisor
5. Fang Min, MEng student (Mechanical Engineering) – supervisor

In addition to the above students, the following student is based in the laboratory of my collaborator under his supervision:

1. Lin Wenjun, PhD student (SUSTech-NUS Joint PhD) – NUS supervisor

I also supervise master by coursework students on their research project modules, undergraduate students on their final year projects, and occasionally, exchange students.

1. Yang Jiaxuan, MEng (Mechanical Engineering) 2023, Mechanism and Analysis of Novel Hand Robot – supervisor
2. Muhammad Haiqal Bin Mahbod, PhD (Mechanical Engineering) 2022, Energy Efficient Cooling Control for Data Center using Deep Reinforcement Learning – co-supervisor
3. Wei Kexin, MEng (Mechanical Engineering) 2022, Deep Reinforcement Learning for Robot-Assisted Surgical Training – supervisor
4. Wong Pooi Mun, PhD (Mechanical Engineering) 2021, Human-centered Intelligent Cyber-physical System for Industry 4.0 – supervisor
5. Yin Jun Hao, MEng (Mechanical Engineering) 2021, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality on Human Performance – supervisor
6. Hoang Ngoc Son Sean, MEng (Mechanical Engineering) 2020, Applications of Machine Learning in Controlling of Robotic Medical Devices – main supervisor
7. Ho Jun Hui, Nicholas, PhD (Mechanical Engineering) 2019, Medical Device Manufacturing using Industry 4.0 Technologies – supervisor
8. Chng Chin Boon, PhD (Mechanical Engineering) 2019, Spherical Mechanism Design and Shared Control for Robot Assisted Surgery – supervisor
9. Liang Xinquan, PhD (Mechanical Engineering) 2019, Design and Development of Soft Robotic Arms towards Close Human-Robot Interaction – main supervisor
10. Lee Yonggu, MEng (Mechanical Engineering) 2019, Deep Reinforcement Learning and Its Applications for Flexible Needle Insertion – supervisor
11. Tan Xiaoyu, PhD (Mechanical Engineering) 2019, Cognitive Engine and Deep Reinforcement Learning for Robot-Assisted Surgery – main supervisor
12. Chen Xuan, PhD candidate (Electrical and Computer Engineering), Machine Learning for multi-label segmentation of medical images – co-supervisor
13. Ujjaval Gupta, PhD (Mechanical Engineering) 2018, Dynamics of dielectric elastomer actuators: modeling, experiments and applications – co-supervisor
14. Tee Jing Zhong, MEng (Mechanical Engineering) 2018, Cable binding robot – supervisor
15. Agus Pratondo, PhD (Electrical and Computer Engineering) 2016, Integrating machine learning with level set method for medical image segmentation – co-supervisor
16. Duan Bin, PhD (Mechanical Engineering) 2016, Computer-aided and robot-assisted radiofrequency ablation of large liver tumor – main supervisor
17. Ho Yick Wai, Yvonne, PhD (Mechanical Engineering) 2016, Patient-specific controller for an implantable artificial pancreas – supervisor
18. Wu Jichuan, PhD (Mechanical Engineering) 2015, Fast physics-based simulation of vascular surgery – co-supervisor
19. Chua Chin Heng, Matthew, PhD (Mechanical Engineering) 2015, Simulation-based design and material modeling for ENT implants – supervisor
20. Cai Lile, PhD (Electrical and Computer Engineering) 2015, Importance-driven transfer function design for volume visualization of medical images – co-supervisor
21. Yang Tao, PhD (Mechanical Engineering) 2015, Human-robot collaboration in robotic-assisted surgical training – main supervisor
22. Lee Chun Siong, PhD (Mechanical Engineering) 2015, Training and assessment of hand-eye coordination with electroencephalography – supervisor
23. Xiong Linfei, PhD (Mechanical Engineering) 2014, Variational methods for modeling and simulation of tool-tissue interaction – main supervisor
24. Tay Wei Liang, PhD (Electrical and Computer Engineering) 2014, Computational intelligence methods for medical image understanding, visualization, and interaction – co-supervisor
25. Choo Jun Quan, MEng (Mechanical Engineering) 2013, Laryngeal microsurgery – characterization of magnesium-based microclips for wound closure – main supervisor
26. Wu Zimei, PhD (Mechancial Engineering) 2013, Mathematical models with delays for glucose-insulin regulation and applications in artificial pancreas – main supervisor
27. Wen Rong, PhD (Mechancial Engineering) 2013, Projection-based spatial augmented reality for interactive visual guidance in surgery – main supervisor
28. Huang Wei Hsuan, PhD (Mechanical Engineering) 2013, Investigation of heat therapies using multi-scale models and statistical methods – main supervisor
29. Nguyen Phu Binh, PhD (Electrical and Computer Engineering) 2012, Visualization of large medical data – co-supervisor
30. Fu Yabo, PhD (Mechanical Engineering) 2012, Quantitative elasticity imaging and soft tissue characterization using tagged magnetic resonance imaging – main supervisor
31. Li Bingnan, PhD (NUS Graduate School for Integrative Science and Engineering) 2011, Level set methods for MRE image processing and analysis – co-supervisor
32. Chng Chin Boon, MEng (Mechanical Engineering) 2011, Design and experimentation of surgical devices for voice restoration – supervisor
33. Yang Liangjing, MEng (Mechanical Engineering) 2010, Design-centric method for an augmented reality robotic surgery – supervisor
34. Yang Tao, MEng (Mechanical Engineering) 2010, Nonlinear viscoelastic properties and constitutive modeling of blood vessel – supervisor
35. Nader Hamzavi Zarghani, MEng (Mechanical Engineering) 2009, Modeling and simulation of an active robotic device for flexible needle insertion – supervisor
36. Leong Ching Ying, Florence, MEng (Mechanical Engineering) 2009, Modeling and analysis of a new integrated radiofrequency ablation and devision device – co-supervisor
37. Ong Shin Kiat, Jackson, MEng (Mechanical Engineering) 2008, Haptics interfacing technologies for use in spinal surgery – main supervisor