Ever since their first introduction in the late 1980s [1], [2], surgical robots have played an increasingly prominent role in medical practice [3], [4]. For example, a recent study [5] found that over 15% of all general surgery procedures in 2020 were performed robotically, compared to only 1.8% in 2012. The current worldwide robotic surgery market is estimated to be $\$ $ 5.3 billion and is expected

Telesurgical robotics, as a technical solution for robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery (RAMIS), has become the first domain within medicosurgical robotics that achieved a true global clinical adoption. Its relative success (still at a low single-digit percentile total market penetration) roots in the particular human-in-the-loop control, in which the trained surgeon is always kept responsible

Surgical robots have been widely adopted with over 4000 robots being used in practice daily. However, these are telerobots that are fully controlled by skilled human surgeons. Introducing “surgeon-assist”—some forms of autonomy—has the potential to reduce tedium and increase consistency, analogous to driver-assist functions for lane-keeping, cruise control, and parking. This article examines the scientific

This article presents an overview of the current state of research and application of haptic (primarily kinesthetic) feedback and force-based teleoperation in the context of surgical robotics. Telerobotic surgery provides an approach for transferring the sensorimotor skills of a surgeon through a robotic platform to perform surgical intervention inside a patient’s body. Integration of advanced sensing

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This month’s regular papers review vehicle-to-everything communication, reuse of lithium-ion batteries, and monitoring technologies for wind turbines.

The large-scale retirement of electric vehicle traction batteries poses a huge challenge to environmental protection and resource recovery since the batteries are usually replaced well before their end of life. Direct disposal or material recycling of retired batteries does not achieve their maximum economic value. Thus, the second-life use of EV batteries has become the most economical and environmentally

Prospective authors are requested to submit new, unpublished manuscripts for inclusion in the upcoming event described in this call for papers.

Prospective authors are requested to submit new, unpublished manuscripts for inclusion in the upcoming event described in this call for papers.

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This special issue brings together leading experts in the fields of systems and synthetic biology to provide a quantitative and analytical perspective of the state-of-the-art developments.

There is no design template more important than DNA. Within the sequences of this exquisite substance lie the design plans for each of us and for every living organism. Shaped over billions of years by the creative machinations of evolution, this design template encodes the most complex dynamical systems known to us. Yet, it is only in our lifetimes that we are able to directly edit this template and

Prospective authors are requested to submit new, unpublished manuscripts for inclusion in the upcoming event described in this call for papers.

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The trend of achieving minimal invasiveness in surgeries and recent technological advances in robotics have resulted in the emergence of flexible surgical robots. Such flexible robots can reach a surgical site via narrow and tortuous pathways, extending the reach of robotic surgery and potentially reducing the incision size. This review covers the key technical issues associated with flexible surgical

We are on the cusp of a new era of connected autonomous vehicles with unprecedented user experiences, tremendously improved road safety and air quality, highly diverse transportation environments and use cases, and a plethora of advanced applications. Realizing this grand vision requires a significantly enhanced vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication network that should be extremely intelligent

During the spring of 1925, John Logie Baird gave a series of public demonstrations in Selfridges department store in London’s Oxford Street that showed how television might eventually be realized. Though only capable of showing simple shapes, his demonstration system was notable in having the subject conventionally floodlit, and the televised image reproduced on a separate, wirelessly connected, display

Interventional robotic systems have been deployed with all existing imaging modalities in an expansive portfolio of therapies and surgeries. Over the years, literature reviews have painted a comprehensive portrait of the translation of the underlying technology from research to practice. While many of these robots performed promisingly in preclinical settings, only a handful of them managed to evolve

Wind turbines play an increasingly important role in renewable power generation. To ensure the efficient production and financial viability of wind power, it is crucial to maintain wind turbines’ reliability and availability (uptime) through advanced real-time condition monitoring technologies. Given their plurality and evolution, this article provides an updated comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art

Intraocular surgery, one of the most challenging discipline of microsurgery, requires sensory and motor skills at the limits of human physiological capabilities combined with tremendously difficult requirements for accuracy and steadiness. Nowadays, robotics combined with advanced imaging has opened conspicuous and significant directions in advancing the field of intraocular microsurgery. Having patient

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can provide high-quality 3-D visualization of target anatomy, surrounding tissue, and instrumentation, but there are significant challenges in harnessing it for effectively guiding interventional procedures. Challenges include the strong static magnetic field, rapidly switching magnetic field gradients, high-power radio frequency pulses, sensitivity to electrical noise

Since the emergence of soft robotics around two decades ago, research interest in the field has escalated at a pace. It is fuelled by the industry’s appreciation of the wide range of soft materials available that can be used to create highly dexterous robots with adaptability characteristics far beyond that which can be achieved with rigid component devices. The ability, inherent in soft robots, to

The use of magnetic fields and field gradients to move magnetic material and devices within the human body has a surprisingly long history. Over the past two decades, there has been renewed interest in this area with the growth of magnetic medical microrobots. In this article, we focus on the state-of-the-art and future directions for magnetically actuated medical robots from an in vivo perspective

Spikes and rhythms organize control and communication in the animal world, in contrast to the bits and clocks of digital technology. As continuous-time signals that can be counted, spikes have a mixed nature. This article reviews ongoing efforts to develop a control theory of spiking systems. The central thesis is that the mixed nature of spiking results from a mixed feedback principle, and a control

Learning is commonplace in organisms such as ourselves and even in organisms as far distant as the bee and the octopus. Such learning is implemented by brains, or neuronal networks, and has been extensively studied within ethology, psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience. Whether learning also takes place in nonneuronal settings has remained a matter of sustained controversy, too often dominated

Experimental single-cell data often presents an incomplete picture due to its destructive nature: 1) we collect certain experimental measurements of cells but lack measurements under different experimental conditions or data modalities; 2) we collect data of cells at certain time points but lack measurements at other time points; or 3) we collect data of cells under certain perturbations but lack data

Synthetic biology (SB) applies the engineering cycle of ‘design-build-test-learn’ to create new living systems. It is a multidisciplinary practice drawing on molecular biology, genetics, engineering, computing, biochemistry among other disciplines, linked by an underlying commitment to the design approach. The foundational premise of SB is seductively appealing: work with biological organisms as if

Robot-assisted medical imaging entails the use of a robot to acquire a medical image. Examples include robot-assisted endoscopic camera imaging, ultrasound imaging where the transducer is held by a robot, X-ray imaging where the source and detector are positioned by robots, and actuated capsule endoscopy, where the capsule is maneuvered by external magnetic actuation. Robot assistance enables the controlled

Synthetic biology approaches living systems with an engineering perspective and promises to deliver solutions to global challenges in healthcare and sustainability. A critical component is the design of biomolecular circuits with programmable input–output behaviors. Such circuits typically rely on a sensor module that recognizes molecular inputs, which is coupled to a functional output via protein-level

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Fusion of Probability Density Functions

Fusing probabilistic information is a fundamental task in signal and data processing with relevance to many fields of technology and science. In this work, we investigate the fusion of multiple probability density functions (pdfs) of a continuous random variable or vector. Although the case of continuous random variables and the problem of pdf fusion frequently arise in multisensor signal processing

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Metabolic network analysis is an accessible and versatile modeling approach for biology that has taken much inspiration from electric circuit analysis. After introducing its main concepts, we focus on numerical tools, such as optimization and sampling, to predict cellular features and behaviors at a large scale. Optimization approaches exploit that metabolic networks are shaped by evolution and are

Signal decomposition (analysis) and reconstruction (synthesis) are cornerstones in signal processing and feature recognition tasks. Signal decomposition is traditionally achieved by projecting data onto predefined basis functions, often known as atoms. Coefficient manipulation (e.g., thresholding) combined with signal reconstruction then either provides signals with enhanced quality or permits extraction

Personal voice assistants (PVAs) are increasingly used as interfaces to digital environments. Voice commands are used to interact with phones, smart homes, or cars. In the United States alone, the number of smart speakers, such as Amazon’s Echo and Google Home, has grown by 78% to 118.5 million, and 21% of the U.S. population own at least one device. Given the increasing dependency of society on PVAs

Smart wearables provide an opportunity to monitor health in daily life and are emerging as potential tools for detecting cardiovascular disease (CVD). Wearables such as fitness bands and smartwatches routinely monitor the photoplethysmogram signal, an optical measure of the arterial pulse wave that is strongly influenced by the heart and blood vessels. In this survey, we summarize the fundamentals

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This month’s point-of-view article discusses the upcoming changes in the electricity industry including electrification, and the drive toward fossil-free generation, and the role of energy storage in electrification and the operation of a future electric grid without fossil fuels. Though the discussion is primarily focused on the U.S. electricity system, the issues affecting the operation of future

This article discusses the upcoming changes in the electricity industry including electrification, and the drive toward fossil-free generation, and the role of energy storage (ES) in electrification and the operation of a future electric grid without fossil fuels. Though our discussion is primarily focused on the United States electricity system, the issues affecting the operation of future electric

Deep learning (DL) has demonstrated great performance in various applications on powerful computers and servers. Recently, with the advancement of more powerful mobile devices (e.g., smartphones and touch pads), researchers are seeking DL solutions that could be deployed on mobile devices. Compared to traditional DL solutions using cloud servers, deploying DL on mobile devices have unique advantages

Prospective authors are requested to submit new, unpublished manuscripts for inclusion in the upcoming event described in this call for papers.

Prospective authors are requested to submit new, unpublished manuscripts for inclusion in the upcoming event described in this call for papers.

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In the last decade, the trend toward higher efficiency and higher torque density electrical machines (EMs) without permanent magnets (PMs) for the industrial sector has rapidly increased. This work discusses the latest research and industrial advancements in synchronous reluctance machines (SynRMs), being the emergent motor topology gaining wide acceptance by many industries. This article presents

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Continuum robots are not constructed with discrete joints but, instead, change shape and position their tip by flexing along their entire length. Their narrow curvilinear shape makes them well suited to passing through body lumens, natural orifices, or small surgical incisions to perform minimally invasive procedures. Modeling and controlling these robots are, however, substantially more complex than

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a state-of-the-art medical imaging technique that can determine the structural and functional status of body tissues and organs. However, the prolonged MRI acquisition time increases the scanning cost and limits its use in emergency settings. Moreover, subjects have to lie still in the scanners and even hold their breath for thoracic or abdominal imaging. Hence,