LCSR Achievements
LCSR in the News
- July 1, 2025 — Axel Krieger has been appointed as the Carol Croft Linde Faculty Scholar. Axel Krieger, Engr ’08 (PhD), is an associate professor in mechanical engineering with a secondary appointment in computer science. Axel’s work focuses on both the fundamental and translational development of novel tools, imaging, and robot control techniques for medical robotics. Specifically, he investigates methodologies that increase smartness and autonomy and improve image guidance of medical robots to perform previously impossible tasks, improve efficiency, and ultimately enhance patient outcomes. As director of the Intelligent Medical Robotic Systems and Equipment (IMERSE) Lab, Axel leads a team of students, scientists, and engineers in the research and development of robotic tools and laparoscopic devices. The team made international news in early 2022 when its Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR) surgical robot performed laparoscopic surgery on the soft tissue of a pig without the guiding hand of a human—a significant step toward fully automated surgery on humans.
- Joseph Moore, assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering and director of the Agile and Intelligent Robotics (AIRO) Lab has received an award from the Army Research Laboratory Tactical Behaviors for Autonomous Maneuver Cycle 2 program. He has received $835,660 over two years to conduct research in collaboration with the Applied Physics Laboratory on risk-aware tactical planning for multirobot teams in dynamic environments.
- May 2025 — Debojyoti Biswas, a postdoc working in the Locomotion in Mechanical and Biological Systems (LIMBS) Laboratory and the Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics (LCSR), has been invited to include his paper the European Journal of Control for their special issue, “Best Papers Accepted for Presentation at the 2025 European Control Conference in Thessaloniki, Greece.”
- April 2025 – Tatiana Kashtanova, doctoral student in the SMARTS lab under the direction of research professor Peter Kanzanzides, has received a grant from the Orlando Health Foundation for her work on “Treatment Response Assessment and Prognosis of Metastatic Brain Cancer.”
- April 2025 — Debojyoti Biswas was selected as one of the winners of this year’s Empower Your Pitch! (EYP) research communication competition in the Postdoctoral category. The EYP Finale, hosted by the Doctoral Life Design Studio at JHU, took place April 8. Debojyoti works in the Locomotion in Mechanical and Biological Systems (LIMBS) Laboratory and the Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics (LCSR). Read more here.
- March 2025 – Mathias Unberath has received a grant for his project, “A Multi-robot System for Semi-automated Image-guided Vertebral Augmentation,” from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. Read more about this project here.
- January 2025 — Iulian Iordachita was awarded a grant for “Enabling Dexterous Intraocular Surgery with Robotic Assistance, from National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. Read more about this project here.
- November 2024 – Robotics MSE Student Junling Mei was a recipient of the Best Student Paper Award, First Place, from the 2025 International Symposium on Medical Robotics (ISMR) Conference, for being the lead author of a paper entitled, “Evaluation of Needle Manipulation Controller Subject to Uncertainty of Tip Pose Feedback: A Simulation Study.”
- September 2024 – Auris Health has awarded Mathias Unberath a grant for his project, “Vision-Based Dynamic Mapping of Bronchial Tree Anatomy and Airways.” With his group, the Advanced Robotics and Computationally AugmenteD Environments (ARCADE) Lab, Unberath builds the future of computer-assisted medicine. He is the John C. Malone Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science with secondary appointments in the Departments of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery at the School of Medicine. He is also a core faculty member of the Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics (LCSR) and the Malone Center for Engineering in Healthcare, and an affiliate faculty member in the Institute for Assured Autonomy.
- August 2024 – In collaboration with the Tokuda Lab at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Iulian Iordachita has received an NIH grant to study robot-assisted catheter placement to facilitate adaptive image guided pelvic brachytherapy. Iordachita is a research professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at JHU, a member of the Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics, and director of the Advanced Medical Instrumentation and Robotics (AMIRo) Research Lab. Read more about this project here.
- June 2024 – Krystal Lan, student in the Locomotion in Mechanical and Biological Systems (LIMBS) Laboratory, has received NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Award! Read more here.
- February 2024 — The paper, “Steady-Hand Eye Robot 3.0: Optimization and Benchtop Evaluation for Subretinal Injection,” authored by postdoctoral researchers Alireza Alamdar, David E. Usevitch, visiting PhD student Jiahao Wu, and professors Russell Taylor, Peter Gehlbach, and Iulian Iordachita, was awarded the Best Paper Award by IEEE Transactions in Medical Robotics and Bionics.
- November 2023 – X-ray vision: Tech could improve efficiency of pelvic fracture surgery
- November 9 2023 – Photo of the Week
- January 2023 – Bisi Bell elected as SPIE Fellow
- July 2022 – Russell Taylor guest edits IEEE special issue on surgical robotics
- June 2022 – Researchers named finalists for ICRA Outstanding Locomotion Paper
- June 2022 – Hopkins students build deep learning tools for medicine, music, and more
- April 2022 – Russ Taylor: The role of AI in Robotic Surgery (Podcast)
- March 2022 – Johns Hopkins engineers build robot to perform surgery without a doctor (Capital Gazette)
- Jan 2022 – Robot performs first laparoscopic surgery without human help
- Jan 2022 – Upstarts: A Better Alert for Fetal Distress
- Jan 2022 – Ensuring the Safety of AI-Based Systems
- Dec 2021 – New photoacoustic imaging process has potential to improve biopsies and catheter insertions
- Dec 2021 – Accelerating Surgical Robotics Research (da Vinci Research Kit)
- Dec 2021 – Interview with Professor Russell Taylor
- Dec 2021 – A virtual reality simulator to train surgeons for skull-base procedures
- Nov 2021 – Podcast episode on Surgical and Vision-Guided Robotics
SURPASS Award 2023-2024, 2024-2025
Creel Family Teaching Assistant Award (JHU Mechanical Engineering)
- Henry Phalen, Annie Mao, Brian Woronowicz, and our MSE student Boyang Xiao
Muyinatu Bell
- 2022 elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering’s College of Fellows
- 2021 SPIE Early Career Achievement Award (Jan)
Emad Boctor
- Funding allows Johns Hopkins researchers to develop tools for more effective cancer procedures
- Hopkins gets $21M from Biden’s Cancer Moonshot program
- Fact Sheet: Biden-Harris Administration Announces $150 Million from ARPA-H to Deliver Progress on Biden Cancer Moonshot Goals and Improve Health Outcomes
- First SURPASS Teams Set to Tackle Tough Societal Challenges
- Augmented reality navigation system could improve lumbar puncture accuracy
- New Nanomaterial for Retinal Implants Could Someday Help Restore Sight for Millions
- New wearable augmented reality device could improve accuracy of spinal tap procedures
- New wearable augmented reality device could improve accuracy of spinal tap procedures
Jeremy Brown
Yuxin Chen
- Intuitive Young Investigator Travel Award for “A Force-sensing Surgical Drill for Real-time Force Feedback in Robotic Mastoidectomy” (June 2023)
Laura Connoly
March 2024 – Laura Connolly wins Imaging Network Ontario Symposium award for best presentation
Noah Cowan
- Noah Cowan elevated to IEEE Fellow
David Gracias
- David Gracias was elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (FNAI, 2025). Election to NAI Fellow status is the highest professional distinction for academic inventors.
Chien-Ming Huang
Autumn Hughes
- Metropolitan Washington Chapter of the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists Foundation, undergraduate scholarship
Ali Ebrahimi
- 2021 Link Foundation Fellowship in Modeling, Simulation, and Training
Jeeun Kang
Axel Krieger
- 2022 National Science Foundation’s Early CAREER Award
- 2021 Best Student Paper Award IEEE 21st International Conference on Bioinformatics and Bioengineering (BIBE)
- 2021 Latest research work on Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot published in Science Robotics: DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.abj2908
Simon Leonard
- 2021 Career Impact Award Winner
Chen Li
- Space@JHU Award “Simulation of multi-legged robot locomotor transitions to traverse rocky Martian terrain”
- Paper is one of three finalists for ICRA 2022 Outstanding Locomotion Paper – Mi J, Wang Y, *Li C (2022). Omni-Roach: A legged robot capable of traversing multiple types of large obstacles and self-righting, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), in press (Movie) PDFA recorded talk here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx6whQ5xDEg&ab_channel=TerradynamicsLab
Xiaolong Liu
- Maryland Innovation Initiative Award “Developing CorFix: A Software for Medical Diagnosis and Pre-operative Planning for Fontan Surgery (Liu)”
Hyunwoo Song
- Siemens Best Paper Award : Runner-up (June 2023)
Jessica Su
- Metropolitan Washington Chapter of the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists Foundation, undergraduate scholarship
Russ Taylor
- Highlighted Associate Editor (April 2021) IEEE TMI website
Mathias Unberath
Past LCSR in the News
- Sept 2021 – Robot programming for everyday people
- June 2021 – Deep down below
- June 2021 – Safety first: Project aims to make AI-based autonomous systems more reliable and secure
- April 2021 – The Next Pandemic May Be in the Hands of…Human-Like Robots?
- March 2021 – Ready for duty: Health care robots get good prognosis for next pandemic
- March 2021 – A Real Adventure (featuring Jeremy Brown)
- Feb 2021 – Hopkins ventilator robot wins top prize at UK Robotics Week Challenge
