Engineering/Scientific areas within Robotics Engineering And Computing for Healthcare (REACH) - REACH | UWE Bristol Skip to main content Search Search Search Close Menu Menu Students Staff Login Close Courses and applying Back to Main Menu Courses and applying Find a course Open Days Fees Funding and scholarships Applying Order a prospectus Undergraduate study Postgraduate study International study Professional development Higher and degree apprenticeships Clearing Ask a student Life Back to Main Menu Life Accommodation Campus and facilities Preparing and arrival Sports, societies and activities Health and wellbeing Money and finance Discover Bristol Global experiences Study Back to Main Menu Study Library Study support Term dates Academic information IT Services Work experience, jobs and placements Career development Innovation and enterprise Final Year checklist International study exchange Student feedback UWE Bristol app About us Back to Main Menu About us Our values, vision and strategy Ranking and reputation Work at UWE Bristol Contact us Visit us Staff profiles Faculties, Departments and Schools Services Structure and governance Demographic data Our history Website For business and partners Back to Main Menu For business and partners Business services Schools and colleges Community engagement University Enterprise Zone Venue hire and events management Support UWE Bristol Degree apprenticeships Academic partnerships Coach on our Student Leadership Programme Research Back to Main Menu Research Postgraduate research study Breaking research boundaries Our research strategy Research with impact Research centres and groups Research enquiries Research publications Research governance Research Excellence Framework (REF) Research staff support Alumni Back to Main Menu Alumni Discounts and facilities Stay connected Support the next generation Reunions Outstanding alumni Share your success Alumni Connect News Back to Main Menu News Coronavirus guidance Student newsletter Media enquiries Find an expert Blogs Brexit advice Events Back to Main Menu Events Degree Shows Awards Ceremonies Black History Month LGBT+ History Month The Bristol Distinguished Address Series Festival of learning Filming and photography notice Green Week International student events Careers and enterprise events International Student Orientation MyMoney events External speakers Research Research centres and groups REACH Engineering areas Engineering/Scientific areas within Robotics Engineering And Computing for Healthcare (REACH) Research activity within REACH is focused on seven engineering/scientific areas and their objectives: Accessible human-robot interaction and interfaces Robo-ethics Bio-inspired mechatronics Bio-smart controllers Smart sensing and electronics Safety engineering and design assurance of robotics and autonomous systems Rehabilitation and user experience Accessible human-robot interaction and interfaces The way in which human and robots interact is key to the successful deployment and acceptance of these technologies. We work towards the development of natural communication strategies through the use of vision, touch, and auditory cues. Apart from the communication aspect itself, we also pay attention to the means of communication, that is, to the interfaces that facilitate the inputs/outputs between the technology and the users. Show all sections Publications Sturgeon (Mackey), B., Payne, T., Mason, S., and Nwosu, A. (2017). O-7 Robotic technology and palliative care education: the development of a ‘nao robot’ computer program. BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care, 7(Suppl 1), A2.4-A3. Nwosu, A. C., Sturgeon (Mackey), B., McGlinchey, T., Goodwin, C. D. G., Behera, A., Mason, S., Payne, T. R. (2019). Robotic technology for palliative and supportive care: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Palliative Medicine. Bethany Ann Mackey, Paul A. Bremner, and Manuel Giuliani. 2020. Immersive control of a robot surrogate for users in palliative care. In Companion of the 2020 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI '20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 585–587. Bethany Ann Mackey, Paul A. Bremner, and Manuel Giuliani. 2020. The effect of virtual reality control of a robotic surrogate on presence and social presence in comparison to telecommunications software. In Companion of the 2020 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI '20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 349–351. People Bethany Mackey Dr Virginia Ruiz Garate Dr Dan Withey Robo-ethics We should consider the ethical case when we introduce AI and Robotics into any domain, and this is particularly true in healthcare settings, where users may be vulnerable and where our expectations of care are clearly based on our experience of human interactions. Our objective is simple; to enable stakeholders to express and attain their desires for a sustainable future for the benefit of the many. Show all sections Projects SciRoc; Smart Cities Robot Competitions Publications Appleby, T., Studley, M., Moorhouse, B., Judith, B., Staddon, C. and Bean, E. (2018) Sea of possibilities: Old and new uses of remote sensing data for the enforcement of the Ascension Island marine protected area. Marine Policy. Sita, E., Thomessen, T., Pipe, A.G., Studley, M. and Dailami, F., 2020, July. Usability study of a robot companion for monitoring industrial processes. In 2020 5th Asia-Pacific Conference on Intelligent Robot Systems (ACIRS) (pp. 37-42). IEEE. Studley. M. and Little, H. 2020. Robots and Smart Cities, in How Smart Is Your City? Technological Innovation, Ethics and Inclusiveness, Aldinhas Ferreira, Maria Isabel (Ed.) Studley, M. and Winfield, A., 2020. ELSA in Industrial Robotics. Current Robotics Reports, pp.1-8. Van Maris, A., Caleb-Solly, P., Studley, M., Winfield, A., Dogramadzi, S. (2020). Designing ethical social robots – a longitudinal field study with older adults. Frontiers in Robotics and AI. Volume 7, Issue 1. Van Maris, A., Sutherland, A., Mazel, A., Dogramadzi, S., Zook, N., Studley, M., Winfield, A. and Caleb-Solly, P., 2020, March. The impact of affective verbal expressions in social robots. In Companion of the 2020 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (pp. 508-510). Van Maris, A., Dogramadzi, S., Zook, N., Studley, M., Winfield, A., Caleb-Solly, P. (2020). Speech related accessibility issues in social robots. In Companion of the 2020 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (pp. 505-507). Van Maris, A., Zook, N., Studley, M., Dogramadzi, S. (2019) The need for ethical principles and guidelines in social robots. In Tokhi M. O., Ferreira M. I. A., Govindarajuli N. s., Silva M., Virk G. S., Kadar, E. and Fletcher S.R. (Eds.) Artificial Intelligence, Robots and Ethics – Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Robot Ethics and Standards (ICRES 2019) Van Maris, A., Zook, N., Caleb-Solly, P., Studley, M., Winfield, A. and Dogramadzi, S., 2018. Ethical considerations of (contextually) affective robot behaviour. In Hybrid Worlds: Societal and Ethical Challenges - Proceedings of the International Conference on Robot Ethics and Standards (ICRES 2018). CLAWAR Association Ltd (pp. 13-19). Wright, S., and Studley, M. 2020. Technology and risk considerations in shaping future drone legislation. International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management. People Team Leader: Dr Matthew Studley Bio-inspired mechatronics Our objectives are to develop smart bio-inspired rehabilitation devices and systems and their testing facilities, to work with smart material and advances in manufacturing to optimise innovative engineering techniques, to develop assistive solutions for end-users and work with rehabilitation centre to validate their usage. Show all sections Projects Development of a Bio-Inspired Exoskeleton for lower limbs An Inclusive Digital Design approach in biomechanical assistive devices Publications Agrawal, S., Giuliani, M., Etoundi, A., and Jafari, A. (2022). Physiological data measurement in digital manufacturing. In 2021 24th International Conference on Mechatronics Technology (ICMT). Agrawal, S., Simasinghe, C., Jafari, A., Etoundi, A., and Jie Chong, J. (in press). A de-risked bio-inspired condylar prosthetic knee joint for a robotic leg test rig. Etoundi AC, Dobner A, Agrawal S, Semasinghe CL, Georgilas I, Jafari A. A robotic test rig for performance assessment of prosthetic joints. Front. Robot. AI 8: 613579. Etoundi, A. C., Semasinghe, C. L., Agrawal, S., Dobner, A., and Jafari, A. (2021). Bio-inspired knee joint: Trends in the hardware systems development. Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 8. Glanville, S., Chong, J. J., Jafari, A., and Etoundi, A. (2022). Integration of computer vision in a testing facility for prosthetic joint inspection and performance assessment. In 2021 24th International Conference on Mechatronics Technology (ICMT). Hoh, S., Chong, J., and Etoundi, A. C. (2020). Design of a virtual testing platform for assessing prosthetic knee joints. In 2020 5th International Conference on Advanced Robotics and Mechatronics (ICARM) (576-581). Hung, C., Etoundi, A., Jafari, A., Matthews, J., Chang, W., and Chong, J. J. (2022). Mimicking condylar knee to design bio-inspired robotic knee joint based on magnetic resonance imaging. In 2021 24th International Conference on Mechatronics Technology (ICMT). Jena, A., Chong, J., Jafari, A., & Etoundi, A. (2022). Therapy easy: A co-designed hand rehabilitation system using Leap motion controller. In 2021 24th International Conference on Mechatronics Technology (ICMT). Sabau, P., Chong, J. J., Jafari, A., Agrawal, S., Semasinghe, C., and Etoundi, A. (2020). Application of machine learning towards design optimisation of bio-inspired transfemoral prosthetic socket for robotic leg test rig. Sabau, P., Jie Chong, J., Jafari, A., Agrawal, S., Semasinghe, C., and Etoundi, A. (in press). Application of machine learning towards design optimisation of bio-inspired transfemoral prosthetic socket for robotic leg test rig. People Team Leader: Dr Appolinaire Etoundi Dr Aghil Jafari Dr Matt O’Donnell Dr Virginia Ruiz Garate Emanuel Nunez Sardinha Bio-smart controllers Our aim is to develop innovative high-level control approaches to the bring out the best of assistive robots. This includes two different approaches: collaborative design and creation of new platforms, in which mechanical designers and control engineers iteratively come-up with optimized solutions, and using advanced controllers to render limited functional hardware into intelligent compliant platforms. To attain these objectives, we focus on the following primary areas of research: bio-inspired controllers: take inspiration from nature to create more natural and intuitive controllers for robotic hands, lower limb exoskeletons, etc intuitive multi-robot control: investigate new paradigms that will allow the cooperation and collaboration of multiple robots in a seamless way shared-authority: research on different levels of control in HRI adaptive control: create user-centric controllers for physically assistive robots that adapt to each person’s requirements and level of assistance needed impedance control: render rigid robots into compliant mechanisms by means of smart controllers to make them safer during HRI. Show all sections Projects Adaptive home robotic assistance for people with stroke AAIP: Assistive Robotics in Healthcare Demonstrator project within the Assuring Autonomy International Programme Publications Van Maris, A. Sumpter, L., Ruiz Garate, V., Kumar, P., Harper, C., Caleb-Solly, P. The case for an intervention scale to design the balance of authority for robotic assistance. ICRES 2021: 6th International Conference on Robot Ethics and Standards. People Team Leader: Dr Virginia Ruiz Garate Dr Praveen Kumar Emanuel Nunez Sardinha Smart sensing and electronics Our objective is to support improved treatment and quality of life through novel AI, data analytics, and sensing paradigms. Show all sections Projects FitBees– Facilitating physical activity and exercises in people aged over 55 years CHARMED-MS - Objective Characterisation of Movement Disorders to Identify People with MS Likely to Benefit from Deep Brain Stimulation TEETACSI -Tracking Expert Eyes to Train AI for Clinical Signal Interpretation Supportive Surveillance? Co-design of automated timely interventions to enhance. treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) PoseCalib: Automated extrinsic calibration of a markerless 3D human motion capture system POEM – Pulse Oximetry from the Eardrum MoDA-VR – Movement Disorders Assessment in Virtual Reality Publications Child, N., Hanson, B., Bishop, M., Rinaldi, C.A., Bostock, J., Western, D., Cooklin, M., O’Neil, M., Wright, M., Razavi, R. and Gill, J., 2014. Effect of mental challenge induced by movie clips on action potential duration in normal human subjects independent of heart rate. Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology, 7(3), pp.518-523. Di Simplicio, M., Costoloni, G., Western, D., Hanson, B., Taggart, P. and Harmer, C.J., 2012. Decreased heart rate variability during emotion regulation in subjects at risk for psychopathology. Psychological medicine, 42(8), pp.1775-1783. Drakakis, E.M., 2018. An implantable mixed-signal CMOS die for battery-powered in vivo blowfly neural recordings. Microelectronics journal, 74, pp.34-42. Hanson, B., Gill, J., Western, D., Gilbey, M., Bostock, J., Boyett, M.R., Zhang, H., Coronel, R. and Taggart, P., 2012. Cyclical modulation of human ventricular repolarization by respiration. Frontiers in physiology, 3, p.379. Ketteringham, L.P., Western, D.G., Neild, S.A., Hyde, R.A., Jones, R.J. and Davies-Smith, A.M., 2014. Inverse dynamics modelling of upper-limb tremor, with cross-correlation analysis. Healthcare technology letters, 1(2), pp.59-63. Reinecke, A., Filippini, N., Berna, C., Western, D.G., Hanson, B., Cooper, M.J., Taggart, P. and Harmer, C.J., 2015. Effective emotion regulation strategies improve fMRI and ECG markers of psychopathology in panic disorder: implications for psychological treatment action. Translational Psychiatry, 5(11), pp.e673-e673. Webster, M., Western, D., Araiza-Illan, D., Dixon, C., Eder, K., Fisher, M. and Pipe, A.G., 2020. A corroborative approach to verification and validation of human–robot teams. The International Journal of Robotics Research, 39(1), pp.73-99. Western, D., Weber, T., Kandasamy, R., May, F., Taylor, S., Zhu, Y., and Canham, L. (2022). Automatic report-based labelling of clinical EEGs for classifier training. In 2021 IEEE Signal Processing in Medicine and Biology Symposium (SPMB). Western, D., Neild, S.A., Hyde, R.A., Jones, R. and Davies-Smith, A., 2014, October. Relating sensor-based tremor metrics to a conventional clinical scale. In 2014 IEEE Healthcare Innovation Conference (HIC) (pp. 165-168). IEEE. Western, D., Hanson, B. and Taggart, P., 2015. Measurement bias in activation-recovery intervals from unipolar electrograms. American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology, 308(4), pp.H331-H338. Western, D., Taggart, P. and Hanson, B., 2010, August. Real-time feedback of dynamic cardiac repolarization properties. In 2010 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology (pp. 114-117). IEEE. Yue, X., Kiely, J., Luxton, R., Chen, B., McLeod, C. N., and Drakakis, E. M. (2022). Passive impedance sensing using a SAW resonator-coupled biosensor for zero-power wearable applications. IEEE Sensors Journal, 22(3), 2347-2357 Yue, X. and McLeod, C., 2008. FPGA design and implementation for EIT data acquisition. Physiological measurement, 29(10), p.1233. Yue, A., Kiely, J., McLeod, C., and Wraith, P. (in press). SAW based passively bioimpedance sensing for zero-power wearable applications of biosensors. In 2019 IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference (BioCAS). Yue, X., Kauer, M., Bellanger, M., Beard, O., Brownlow, M., Gibson, D., …Song, S. (2017). Development of an indoor photovoltaic energy harvesting module for autonomous sensors in building air quality applications. IEEE Internet of Things, 4(6), 2092-2103. People Team Leader: Dr David Western Dr Alex Yue Yixuan Zhu Safety engineering and design assurance of robotics and autonomous systems Healthcare assistive robotics are safety critical applications, and as such it is necessary to provide assurance that their operation will be acceptably safe during operational service. Safety assurance of autonomous systems is a challenging exercise, and our objective is to research methods, tools and system technology that facilitate our ability to provide safety assurance with confidence. This includes research in the following fields: risk assessment, safety analysis, and safety requirements specification safety-directed design, and safety technology verification and validation of safety (including simulation-based testing) safety cases and argumentation for robotics and autonomous systems safety standards, regulation, and certification processes safety auditing of robotic and autonomous systems Show all sections Projects Project proposals currently in development: (As Co-Investigator) Assistive robotics in dentistry (Principal Investigator – Dr Sana Alghareibeh) Strawman standard for robots in social care ESHA Methodology for Autonomous Systems in Healthcare AAIP: Assistive Robotics in Healthcare Demonstrator project within the Assuring Autonomy International Programme Support for SOCRATES Marie Curie PhD student training programme (2019) INTRO Marie Curie doctoral student training programme (2011-2012) Publications Dogramadzi, S., Giannaccini, M. E., Harper, C., Woodman, R., Sobhani, M., and Choung, J. (2014). Environmental Hazard Analysis - a variant of preliminary hazard analysis for autonomous mobile robots. Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems, 76(1), 73-117. Eder, K., Harper, C. and Leonards, U., Towards the safety of human-in-the-loop robotics: Challenges and opportunities for safety assurance of robotic co-workers, Proc. IEEE RO-MAN International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, October 2014, p.660-665. Harper C.J. and Winfield A., “Designing behaviour based systems using the space-time distance principle”, Proc. 3rd Brit. Conf. On Auton. Mob. Robotics and Auton. Sys. (TIMR'01), Univ. of Manchester Report UMCS-01-4-1, 2001. Harper C.J., Winfield A., Direct Lyapunov Design - A synthesis procedure for motor schema using a second-order Lyapunov Stability Theorem”, Proc. IEEE/RSJ International Conference Intell. Robots and Systems (IROS 2002), Lausanne Switzerland, October 2002, pp2085-2091. Harper C.J., Winfield A.F.T, Designing intelligent control systems for safety critical applications, Proc. 1st IET Int’l. Conf. on System Safety, London, June 2006, pp71-80. Harper C.J., Winfield A.F.T. A methodology for provably stable behaviour-based intelligent control, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, Vol.54 (2006) pp52-73. C. Harper, G. Virk, Towards the development of international safety standards for human robot interaction. International Journal of Social Robotics, Vol.2 (2010) pp229-234. C. Harper, M-E. Giannaccini, R. Woodman, S. Dogramadzi, A. Pipe, A. Winfield, Challenges for the hazard identification process of autonomous mobile robots, Proc. HFR2011 Human Friendly Robotics Workshop, Twente, Netherlands, Oct. 2011. Winfield AFT, Harper CJ and Nembrini J, Towards the application of swarm intelligence in safety-critical applications, Proc. IEE 1st International Conference on System Safety Engineering, London, June 2006. Winfield AFT, Harper CJ and Nembrini J, Towards dependable swarms and new discipline of swarm engineering. Proc. SAB'04 Swarm Robotics workshop, eds. Sahin E and Spears W, Springer-Verlag, LNCS 3342, pp 126-142, 2005. Woodman R., Winfield A., Harper C., Fraser M., Building safer robots: Safety driven control, Int. Jrn. Robotics Rsch., Vol.31 Iss.13 pp1603-1626, November 2012. People Team Leader: Dr Chris Harper Rehabilitation and user experience “Any item, piece of equipment, or system, whether acquired commercially, modified or customized, that is commonly used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities.” (The Assistive Technology Act of 2004). Assistive devices are playing a major role in field of rehabilitation and the field is ever so evolving. To understand their uses, it is critical to explore user awareness and experience. The objectives are to: explore the opportunities of assistive devices in the field of rehabilitation engage in inter-disciplinary research understand the users and health care professionals training needs Show all sections Projects Future Care Workforces: Scoping capabilities to leverage assistive robotics through co-design FitBees – Facilitating physical activity and exercises in people aged over 55 years Publications Kumar P, Leake J, Brodie S, Molton J, O'Reilly R, Pearce A, Steele J and Caleb-Solly P (2021) Accelerometers-embedded Lycra sleeves to test wear compliance and upper limb activity in people with stroke: A feasibility study. Journal of Prosthetics and Orthotics. December 21, 2021. Kumar P (2021) Does the application of a Lycra arm sleeve change shoulder biomechanics in people with stroke? - A preliminary study. Journal of Prosthetics and Orthotics, December 29, 2021. Kumar P, Desai A, Elliot L (2020) Does the application of a Lycra arm sleeve change shoulder biomechanics in young healthy people? - A mechanistic study. Journal of Prosthetics and Orthotics. 32 (1):32-37. Kumar, P. (2019). The effects of lycra arm sleeve on glenohumeral subluxation in poststroke hemiplegia - A preliminary study. Journal of Prosthetics and Orthotics, 31(1), 70-75. People Team Leader: Dr Praveen Kumar Dr Khalid Ansari Dr Faatihah Niyi-Odumosu Robotics Engineering And Computing for Healthcare We research robotics technologies, intelligent sensors and machine learning to realise person-focused innovative healthcare solutions. REACH Research centres and groups Browse UWE Bristol's portfolio of research areas, expertise, staff and publications. Centres and groups You may also be interested in About Robotics Engineering And Computing for Healthcare (REACH) An overview of the research areas within REACH. Members of the Robotics Engineering And Computing for Healthcare (REACH) List of REACH members, researchers and students. Application areas within Robotics Engineering And Computing for Healthcare (REACH) The application areas within REACH. Contact Us University of the West of England Frenchay Campus Coldharbour Lane Bristol BS16 1QY United Kingdom Switchboard: +44 (0)117 9656261 View full contact details Visit Us City Campus Frenchay Campus Glenside Campus Car parking Visit us Quick Links Library Jobs Login Term dates Faculties and departments Follow us Website feedback ©2022 UWE Bristol Site map Accessibility Privacy Cookies Modern Slavery statement (PDF) ©2022 UWE Bristol
