Etienne Dombre

About

Etienne Dombre is a prominent French robotics researcher whose work spans robot modeling and control, medical robotics, and visual servoing. He is perhaps best known for his foundational contributions to robot kinematics and dynamics, most notably as co-author of "Modeling, Identification and Control of Robots" (2003), which has accumulated over 745 citations and remains a landmark reference in the field, covering everything from geometric modeling of serial robots to complex kinematic analysis. Beyond theoretical foundations, Dombre has made substantial contributions to medical and surgical robotics. His development of the Hippocrate safe robot arm for medical applications with force feedback (189 citations) and the Dermarob system for reconstructive surgery demonstrate his commitment to translating robotics research into clinical practice. His work on computer-assisted bone-cutting accuracy further underscores this applied focus, addressing real surgical challenges in orthopedics. Dombre also advanced the field of visual servoing, pioneering nonlinear model predictive control approaches for both image-based and ultrasound-guided surgical instrument control. His calibration methods for parallel robots like the Delta 4 reflect his breadth across robot architectures. With a career bridging rigorous mathematical modeling and life-saving medical applications, Dombre's research has left a lasting mark on both academic robotics and surgical innovation.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Modeling, Identification and Control of Robots

   745 citations · 2003
2. 2
   Modeling, Identification & Control of Robots

   190 citations · 2001
3. 3
   Hippocrate: a safe robot arm for medical applications with force feedback

   189 citations · 1999
4. 4
   Image Based Visual Servoing through Nonlinear Model Predictive Control

   90 citations · 2006
5. 5
   Computer-Assisted and Robot-Assisted Technologies to Improve Bone-Cutting Accuracy When Integrated with a Freehand Process Using an Oscillating Saw

   59 citations · 2010
6. 6
   Ultrasound Image-Based Visual Servoing of a Surgical Instrument Through Nonlinear Model Predictive Control

   53 citations · 2007
7. 7
   A calibration procedure for the parallel robot Delta 4

   49 citations · 2002
8. 8
   A Hybrid Position/Force Control Approach for Identification of Deformation Models of Skin and Underlying Tissues

   46 citations · 2005
9. 9
   Dermarob: a safe robot for reconstructive surgery

   39 citations · 2003
10. 10
    Robot Manipulators: Modeling, Performance Analysis and Control

    39 citations · 2007

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links