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Zachary Pezzementi :: Research


My research focuses on novel applications of automated sensing to both fully automated and human-cooperative robotic systems. Recent and current projects work toward modeling, analyzing, and providing guidance for robotic surgery using visual and haptic sensing.

Projects

Manipulating and Perceiving Simultaneously

The goal of this project is to develop a system, consisting of a robotic hand equipped with tactile sensors, capable of autonomously exploring an environment and identifying objects that have been encountered before, while manipulating the unknown objects as necessary. The ability to explore an unknown object using solely haptic information requires expansion of the state of the art both in object recognition and in manipulation, in addition to the application of simultaneous localization and mapping techniques to the haptic domain. Our approach focuses first on the adaptation of feature-based object recognition methods, from the computer vision domain, to haptic object recognition.

For more information, see the CIRL MAPS page. 		Schunk Anthropomorphic Hand

Virtual Fixtures for Human-Machine Cooperative Manipulation

We suggest that dynamics beyond the first order are important in a number of tasks in both open and minimally-invasive surgery. In response, we are designing guidance virtual fixtures which focus not just on the position of the tool, but also its velocity. These fixtures are intended for use in providing guidance to replicated motions, such as those of an expert surgeon demonstrating a procedure to a novice.

For more information, see the Human Machine Collaborative Systems overview. 		A collage of virtual fixturing images

Surgical Modeling

We are interested in modeling and understanding the underlying structures in surgical motions. We would like to eventually use this understanding to create benchmarks for surgical skill evaluation, to develop methods for better surgical training and to automate the documentation of surgeries for libraries.

For more information, see the Surgical Modeling project website. 		A suturing sample image

Retinal OCT Registration

Optical coherance tomography is a non-invasive imaging modality analogous to ultrasound using light rays. Registration of pre-operative OCT images to more familiar intra-operative fundus images allows precise location of pathologies which would otherwise be invisible.

 An OCT montage

Peer-Reviewed Publications

  1. Zachary Pezzementi, Daniel Ursu, Sarthak Misra, Allison Okamura. "Modeling Realistic Tool-Tissue Interactions with Haptic Feedback: A Learning-based Method" In Haptics Symposium, March 2008. Oral Presentation (and associated video)
  2. Ioana Fleming, Sandrine Voros, Balazs Vagvolgyi, Zach Pezzementi, James Handa, M.D., Russell Taylor, Gregory Hager. "Intraoperative Visualization of Anatomical Targets in Retinal Surgery" In Workshop on Application of Computer Vision (WACV), January 2008.
  3. Zachary Pezzementi, Allison Okamura, Gregory D. Hager. "Dynamic Guidance with Pseudoadmittance Virtual Fixtures" In International Conference on Robotics and Automation, April 2007. Oral Presentation (w/o videos)
  4. Geoffrey Hollinger, Yavor Georgiev, Anthony Manfredi, Zachary Pezzementi, Benjamin Mitchell, and Bruce Maxwell. "Design of a Social Mobile Robot Using Emotion-Based Decision Mechanisms." In International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Fall 2006.

Undergraduate Work

  1. My Senior Design Thesis:
    Geoffrey Hollinger, Zachary Pezzementi, Alexander Flurie, and Bruce Maxwell. "Design and Construction of an Indoor Robotic Blimp for Urban Search and Rescue Tasks." Swarthmore College Senior Design Thesis, Spring 2005.
    The associated contest website.
  2. Ben Mitchell, Zach Pezzementi, and Bruce Maxwell. "Size and Classification of Textures in Digital Images", presented as part of Sigma Xi Student Poster Session; Swarthmore College, Fall 2004.
  3. Nick Guerette, Zach Pezzementi, Branen Salmon, and Bruce Maxwell. "CVED.org, a Digital Library Collection for Computer Vision Education", presented as a part of Sigma Xi Student Poster Session; Swarthmore College, Fall 2003.

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This page first went online January 2007. Last updated 10/07/08. Copyright Zachary Pezzementi