Nirav Patel

WORLD APPEARS MORE BEAUTIFUL TO CURIOUS MINDS.

I am currently an Assistant Professor in Department of Engineering Design and director of INSPIRELab at IIT Madras. Prior to joining IIT Madras, I was a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Iulian Iordachita at Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics, Johns Hopkins University. I received the PhD degree in Robotics Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 2017, Dr. Gregory Fischer was my Ph.D advisor. I received my Bachelors degree in Computer Engineering in 2005 from North Gujarat University, India and M.Tech. degree in Computer Science and Engineering in 2007 from Nirma University, India. My current research interests include medical robotics, image guided interventions, robot assisted retinal surgeries and path planning.



"It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow."...Robert H. Goddard(WPI)

News

Our article Stochastic Force-based Insertion Depth and Tip Position Estimations of Flexible FBG-Equipped Instruments in Robotic Retinal Surgery is published in IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.

02/09/2020

Our article An Integrated Robotic System for MRI-Guided Neuroablation: Preclinical Evaluation is selected to be on the cover page of the next issue of IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

02/09/2020

Our article An Integrated Robotic System for MRI-Guided Neuroablation: Preclinical Evaluation is selected as a featured article in the next issue of IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

02/09/2020

Our article Stochastic Force-based Insertion Depth and Tip Position Estimations of Flexible FBG-Equipped Instruments in Robotic Retinal Surgery is accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Mechatronics.

02/09/2020

Dr. Nirav Patel joined department of Engineering Design at IIT Madras as an assistant professor

11/08/2020

Our article Hyrbid Robot-assisted Frameworks for Endomicroscopy Scanning in Retinal Surgeries is accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics.

16/04/2020

Our article An Integrated Robotic System for MRI-Guided Neuroablation: Preclinical Evaluation is accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

29/02/2020

Education

Ph.D, Robotics Engineering

Worcester Polytechninc Institute

GPA: 3.85

Thesis: Towards Closed-loop Robot Assisted, Percutaneous Interventions Under MRI Guidance

Advisor: Dr. Gregory Ficher

Aug 2012 - May 2017

M.Tech., Computer Science and Engineering

Nirma University of Science and Technology

GPA: 7.94

Thesis: Two legged robot design, simulation and realization

Advisor: Dr. Shrikant Pradhan

May 2005 - May 2007

B.E, Computer Engineering

U.V Patel College of Engineering

GPA: 3.85

Sep 2001 - May 2005

Research Experience

Postdoctoral Fellow, Johns Hopkins University

Involved in development of MRI guided robotic system for shoulder arthrography and safe manipulation for robot assisted retinal surgeries.

June 2017 - Present

Research Assistant, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Developed MRI guided robotic systems for needle steering, prostate biopsy and stereotactic neurosurgery for tumor ablation. The prostate biopsy system has been used for 30 patient trials at Brigham and Womens' Hospital, Boston, USA, while the neurosurgery system has been evaluated in animal model.

Jan 2013 - May 2017

Teaching Experience

Postdoctoral Fellow, Johns Hopkins University

Mentoring three graduate students in AMIRO research lab. Guiding them towards their research goals and providing them technical and intellectual help.

June 2017 - Present

Teaching Assistant, Robotic Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Conducted lab sessions and graded assignments for undergraduate level course on “UNIFIED ROBOTICS II”

Jan 2013 - June 2013

Lecturer, Department of Computer Engineering, Nirma University of Science and Technology

Delivered following courses at undergraduate level: embedded systems, digital electronic, design of operating systems and computer graphics. Designed and conducted laboratory sessions for the following courses at undergraduate level: digital electronic and design of operating systems.

Jun 2010 - Jun 2012

Industry Experience

Software Engineer, ABB - Corporate Research Center, Bangalore, India.

Developed of a tool for automated source code modification of Python language for automatically converting all global variables in a given C file to thread local variables. Played key role in establishing Fieldbus testing capabilities at ABB’s corporate research center in India. Transferred testing of various field buses like DeviceNet, Profibus, ProfiNet, Interbus and Ethernet I/P from Swedish corporate research center. Developed three functionalities for Paint Powerpack (1) Modify Spray Angle, (2) Modify Position-Orientation and (3) Virtual fluid device, which helps the user in preparing paint jobs and estimating paint consumption using ABB Robot Studio

Feb 2008 - Aug 2009

Software Engineer, Hewlett Packard, Bangalore, India.

Developed a JAVA/J2EE module which enables HP customers to purchase Printer consumables online and helps HP to maintain their product information.

Aug 2007 - Feb 2008

Research

MRI-Guided Prostate Biopsy

MRI-Guided Brain Tumor Ablation

MRI-Guided Shoulder Arthrography

Robot Assisted Retinal Surgeries

Machine Learning for Safety in Retinal Surgeries

MRI-Guided Pain Injection in Lower Back

Publications

Awards

May 2019
ICRA 2019

IEEE ICRA Best Paper Award in Medical Robotics.

Mar 2018
ISMR 2018

Best paper finalist.

2007
Nirma University of Science and Technology

Received Gold Medal for the Best Student Award of M.Tech 2007 batch from Nirma University of Science and Technology.

2003
Convergence-2003

Won First prize for presenting project on C++ Robot at Convergence-2003 at U V Patel College of Engineering, India.

2003
Technigma-2003

Won First prize for presenting project on C++ Robot at Technigma-2003 at Sankalchand Patel College of Engineering, India.

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