Michael Yip, Ph.D.


Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, UCSD
Affiliate Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UCSD

Summary

Welcome! I am an Assistant Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at UCSD with an affiliate appointment in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. I direct the Advanced Robotics and Controls Laboratory (ARCLab). We design and develop new robotic devices and algorithms to assist in surgery and other medical conditions. Please visit the lab webpage for more details of the most recent research. Below I have outlined the primary research areas and application areas for research.

Google Scholar: here

Education

Ph.D., Stanford University (Bioengineering)
M.Sc., University of British Columbia (Electrical Engineering)
B.Sc.,  University of Waterloo (Mechatronics Engineering)

Other Positions

Imagineer (Research Associate), Disney Research - Walt Disney Imagineering, 2014
Research Assistant, Harvard University, 2008
Research Assistant, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007
Research Assistant, Massachusetts General Hospital,  2006


Areas of Research

  • Learning-based robot control
  • Continuum manipulator design and control
  • Snake-like robot design and control
  • Biomimetic, artificial muscles for robots
  • Image-based guidance and augmented reality

Target Applications

  • Design of robotic, minimally-invasive surgical devices.
  • Robot assistance during collaborative surgery.
  • Medical and endoscopic image analysis for image-guided surgery.
  • Augmented Reality Interfaces for surgery
  • Biomimetic actuators for new classes of compliant robots and for interfacing with the human body.

Technical Interests

  • Reinforcement Learning
  • Robot Motion Planning
  • Model-Free Control
  • Convex Optimization
  • Simultaneous Localization and Mapping
  • Image Reconstruction and Registration
  • Augmented Reality Interfaces
  • Robot Design