Aoife McDonald-Bowyer
Wellcome / EPSRC Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences, University College Hospital
Papers
2
Total Citations
8
H-Index
2
About
Aoife McDonald-Bowyer is a rising star in the field of surgical robotics, with a focused expertise in autonomous ultrasound imaging and soft robotic sensing for minimally invasive procedures. Her work addresses a critical bottleneck in robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery: the need for a highly skilled surgeon to manually manipulate an intra-operative ultrasound probe to visualize hidden anatomy. Her major contribution is the development of **pneumatically attachable flexible rails** (PAFRs) that adhere to organ surfaces. These rails act as a physical guide, enabling a surgical robot to autonomously control an ultrasound probe and perform consistent, sweeping scans over a kidney. In her 2023 paper, she demonstrated how this system can sense organ curvature, while her 2024 work achieved full **vision-based, autonomous control** of the probe for intra-operative ultrasonography. Though early in her career, her two most-cited papers have each garnered 4 citations, signaling immediate interest from the surgical robotics community. By automating the challenging sub-task of ultrasound probe navigation, McDonald-Bowyer’s research promises to reduce cognitive load on surgeons and improve the consistency of tissue localization during partial nephrectomies, paving the way for smarter, more autonomous surgical assistants.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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- 2