UBC Robotics and Control Laboratory (RCL)

The Robotics and Control Laboratory carries out research in medical robotics, medical ultrasound, medical image analysis, image-guided diagnosis, and interventions. Augmented reality techniques are being applied to research, like prostate surgery to ensure easier performance and improved outcomes. Artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques are applied to diagnosis in ultrasound, magnetic resonance, digitized pathology slides and other tissue images. Images are obtained from databases from collaborating hospitals and clinical collaborators with techniques developed in the RCL. Examples of techniques developed in the lab include shear wave absolute vibro-elastography and temporally enhanced ultrasound. Our techniques are applied to prostate and breast cancer diagnosis, kidney and liver disease diagnosis, prostate surgery and radiation therapy, epidural anesthesia guidance, and heart ultrasound. The lab is equipped with a dozen state-of-the-art ultrasound machines, two da Vinci robots with research interfaces, and many sensing and instrumentation systems. Graduate students, undergraduate students, and other engineers carry out research projects in the lab and associated labs under supervision and collaboration with faculty members in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Medicine, and the School of Biomedical Engineering, as well as industrial partnerships. Technologies developed in the lab have been transferred to manufacturers and are incorporated into products sold internationally. Software developed in the lab is currently used in the diagnosis and treatment of patients.