CS/LCSR Seminar: Zih-Yun "Sarah" Chiu

Description

Zih-Yun "Sarah" Chiu, a candidate in electrical and computer engineering at the University of California San Diego, will give a talk titled "Robots in Scrubs: Advancing Robot Sensing, Planning, and Adaptability for Autonomous Medical Interventions" in a seminar cohosted by the Department of Computer Science and the Laboratory for Computational Sensing + Robotics.

Abstract:

Automating medical interventions such as surgery through robotics holds immense potential to revolutionize health care delivery by alleviating physician workload and extending critical treatments to underserved populations. Successful automation of medical interventions demands robots that are capable of three essential abilities: environment understanding with high precision (sensing), reliable manipulation in medical environments that guarantees patient safety and minimizes failures (planning), and continuous medical knowledge accumulation to operate in diverse clinical scenarios (adaptability). However, the complexity of medical environments, restricted sensor feedback, and stringent safety constraints pose challenges in developing autonomous robotic systems that match human professionals' expertise. In this talk, Zih-Yun "Sarah" Chiu will introduce her research in robot sensing, planning, and adaptability that achieves precise localization, safe manipulation, and flexible learning in autonomous medical interventions. First, she will discuss her approach to surgical tool localization that leverages robot kinematics and object geometry to handle uncertainty while ensuring feasibility constraints. Second, she will present how her uncertainty-aware trajectory optimization framework generates reliable robot movements for surgical manipulation, even in noisy, unpredictable environments. Next, she will highlight her efforts in robot learning that enhance knowledge accumulation across multiple surgical and general manipulation tasks, improving learning efficiency and adaptability. Finally, Chiu will demonstrate the real-world impact of her research by showcasing two autonomous medical applications: suturing, a fundamental surgical procedure, and human repositioning for medical evacuation. This talk will conclude with promising future directions in autonomous medical interventions.