Professor Pietro Valdastri

Profile

Pietro Valdastri is Full Professor and Chair in Robotics and Autonomous Systems at the University of Leeds. He directs the Science and Technologies Of Robotics in Medicine (STORM) Lab (www.stormlabuk.com), focusing on intelligent robots to fight cancer, the Institute of Robotics, Autonomous System and Sensing (IRASS), and the Robotics at Leeds network. He received his Laurea degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Pisa in 2001 and his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in 2006. After the PhD, he became Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering at the BioRobotics Institute of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna. In 2011, Prof Valdastri moved to Vanderbilt University as an Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering until 2016, when he relocated to Leeds.

Pietro Valdastri has published more than 200 peer reviewed journal papers in the field of medical robotics and has been principal investigator on grants in excess of £25M supported by NSF, NIH, ERC, EU-H2020, Cancer Research UK, The Royal Society, EPSRC, Innovate UK, ARIA, and industry, including the NSF CAREER Award with the proposal “Lifesaving Capsule Robots” in 2015, the ERC Consolidator Grant Award with the proposal “NoLiMiTs – Novel Lifesaving Magnetic Tentacles” in 2019, and the KUKA Innovation Award for his robotic colonoscopy platform in 2019. Prof. Valdastri is a Royal Society Wolfson Research Fellow, a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Editor for Medical and Rehabilitation Robotics of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, and a member of the steering committee of the International Society for Medical Innovation and Technology (iSMIT). STORM Lab’s research has been featured by several news outlets, including the BBC, The Times, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, New Scientist, The Spectator, WIRED, and Bloomberg. Prof Valdastri also completed a successful entrepreneurial cycle with WinMedical s.r.l., a company he co-founded in 2009 and that was acquired by a larger enterprise in 2017. He recently started a new company, Atlas Endoscopy Limited, to bring his robotic colonoscopy platform to patients.

Responsibilities

• Director of the STORM Lab
• Director of the Institute of Robotics, Autonomous Systems and Sensing
• Director of Robotics at Leeds

Research interests

My research is centered around Soft Magnetic Surgical Robots (SMSRs), which are flexible, snake-like structures that use magnetic fields to navigate through complex environments with minimal human input. In medicine, SMSRs have the potential to enhance surgeons’ abilities by reaching deep into the human anatomy through intricate, winding pathways, providing minimally invasive access to organs that are currently out of reach. My vision is that SMSRs will soon offer life-saving surgical options for patients who presently have no alternatives. Surgeons needing access to hard-to-reach areas in the brain, intestine, or cardiovascular system will be able to design patient-specific SMSRs and fabricate them on demand at an affordable price.

<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Some research projects I'm currently working on, or have worked on, will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://eps.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>

Professional memberships

• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS)
• IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society (EMBS)
• International Society for Medical Innovation and Technology (iSMIT)

Research groups and institutes

• Robotics
• Institute of Robotics, Autonomous Systems and Sensing

Current postgraduate researchers

• Zaneta Koszowska
• Joshua Davy
• Vittorio Francescon
• Burak Ozdemir
• Charles DeLorey
• Yushi Guo
• Yael May

<h4>Postgraduate research opportunities</h4> <p>We welcome enquiries from motivated and qualified applicants from all around the world who are interested in PhD study. Our <a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk">research opportunities</a> allow you to search for projects and scholarships.</p>

Projects

<li><a href="//phd.leeds.ac.uk/project/2085-advanced-fabrication-and-control-of-multi-modal-soft-continuum-robots">Advanced Fabrication and Control of Multi-Modal Soft Continuum Robots</a></li> <li><a href="//phd.leeds.ac.uk/project/2099-enhancing-safety-and-autonomy-in-minimally-invasive-surgery-through-reliable-blood-vessel-localisation">Enhancing safety and autonomy in minimally invasive surgery through reliable blood vessel localisation</a></li>