​About

​In the UNSW Medical Robotics Lab, our research is primarily in the development of Advanced Surgical Systems, Soft Robotics, Wearable Haptics, Soft Exoskeletons, Artificial Organs, Programmable Textile Muscles, Nonlinear Control, and other Medical Devices that contribute to enhance the human quality of life. Our lab is located at Level 1, E26 Biological Sciences South, the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, UNSW, Sydney, Australia. The lab is a place where engineers, neuroscientists, and medical doctors work together to create advanced medical systems, wearable haptic devices, and soft robotic technologies. We design, fabricate, and control surgical robots, soft robotics, haptic devices, and advanced mechatronic systems in medicine more accurate, non-invasive, effective, and at low cost. We also patent our innovative ideas that enable us to transform them from the laboratory to commercial products. Our current major projects include flexible and miniature surgical systems for gastrointestinal cancer and cardiovascular disease treatments, soft robotics, wearable haptics, soft assistive devices, artificial organs, programmable textile muscles, and advanced control systems.


​News and Events

  • March/2023: Assistant Minister for Education, ​Senator the Hon Anthony Chisholm visited our lab.
  • March/2023: Congrats to James Davies as first author of an accepted paper that will be published in Soft Robotics. This work introduces Bio-SHARPE, a bio-Inspired soft and high aspect ratio pumping element that can be used for robotic and medical applications
  • March/2023: Our work on smart textiles using fluid-driven artificial muscle fibers has been selected as Top 100 in Engineering Scientific Reports papers published in 2022.

  • Feb/2023: Our work on bio-inspired soft sensor with tuneable sensitivity published in Advanced Materials Technologies  has been selected as Front Cover.​
  • Feb/2023: Two workshops on Bio-inspired, Biomimetics, and Biohybrid (Cyborg) Systems at ICRA (London) and EMBC  (Sydney) this year.
  • Feb/2023: Congratulation to Mai Thanh Thai as first author of a paper that will be published in Advanced Science. This work developed a new soft robotic system for both in situ 3D bioprinting and endoscopic surgery. 
  • Feb/2023: Welcome Emanuele, Bibhu, and Tingyu (Adrienne) who join the lab as new PhD students. 
  • Jan/2023: Dr Do received Faculty of Engineering Goldstar Award!
  • Jan/2023: Two ICRA papers have been accepted for presentation at London, UK in May/2023
  • Jan/2023: Congrats to Chi Cong Nguyen as first author of an accepted paper that will be published in Advanced Sensor Research.​
  • Dec/2022: Our work published in Advanced Intelligent Systems has been selected as Inside Front Cover.​
  • ​​Dec/2022: Congrats to James Davies as first author of an accepted paper that will be published in Advanced Materials Technologies. This work introduces a novel concept of bio-inspired soft sensor that can tune its sensitivity similar to human Golgi tendon and muscle Spindle for use in robotic, wearable electronic, and medical applications.
  • Nov/2022: We were awarded ARC Discovery Project ($430k) on long-life flexible implants (Team includes Dr Hoang-Phuong Phan (UNSW), Dr Thanh Nho Do (UNSW), Dr Kang Liang (UNSW),  A/Prof. S. Dimitrijev (Griffith), and Prof. John Rogers (Northwestern USA))
  • Nov/2022: We have signed A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Fourier Intelligence for propelling the advancement of rehabilitation technologies.
  • Nov/2022: Working together with researchers from Yale and MIT, we have co-developed an article about high-tech fabrics and textiles, which has been been featured on ​the Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).
  • Nov/2022: Collaborative works with Hoang-Phuong Phan's lab and Liao Wu's lab have been accepted for publication in Small and IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems, respectively.
  • Oct/2022: Congrats to Trung Thien Hoang as first author of an accepted paper that will be published in Advanced Intelligent Systems. This work presents a new approach to induce conductivity of non-conductive liquid metal composites for use in robotic, wearable electronic, and medical applications.
  • Aug/2022: Our work on smart textile and bio-inspired soft robots have been filmed by Thomson Reuters and South China Morning Post.​
  • ​June/2022: Dr Do was promoted to Senior Lecturer with Tenure. His Scientia Renewal was also successful!
  • ​June/2022: Dr Do received 2022 GROW Early Career Academics Grant!
  • June/2022: Congrats to Phuoc Thien Phan as first author of an accepted paper which will be published in Nature Scientific Reports journal. This work presents new approach on the development of smart textiles using fluid-driven artificial muscle fibers!
  • June/2022: A collaborative work with Phan's group from the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering on transparent silicon carbide electronics and sensors for radio-frequency biomedical therapy has been accepted for publication in ACS Nano.
  • May/2022: Our collaboration work with Chun Wang's group from School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering on unidirectional and highly linear strain sensors has been accepted for publication in Journal of Materials Chemistry A. It has been selected as BACK COVER ARTICLE article.​
  • ​​May/2022: Dr Do received 2022 NSW CVRN Professional Development Award! from National Heart Foundation of Australia.
  • April/2022: Dr Do received prestigious ​2022 Google Research Scholar Award!​
  • ​​February/2022: Two papers on the bidirectional soft robotic catheter and soft tubular gripper have been accepted at IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), in Philadelphia, USA. Congrats to the team!
  • January/2022: Our Bio-inspired Soft Helical Gripper has been featured on a educational book entitled "Nature Did It First" created by the Ranger Rick Magazines (powered by the US National Wildlife Federation.)  Ranger Rick is a friendly raccoon character which helps children of all ages discover and connect with nature so that they, too, become good stewards of the environment. The printed version can be found in page 23 from this link. 
  • January/2022: Dr Do's research was featured on Heart Foundation of Australia

  • November/2021: Congrats to Trung Thien Hoang as first author of an accepted paper which will be published in Sensors journal. This work presents a new wearable soft fabric sleeve for rehabilitation and upper limb augmentation! 
  • November/2021: Dr Do was  interviewed by the National Heart Foundation of Australia on the new soft robotic heart device to help people with heart failure awaiting a heart transplant .
  • November/2021: Congrats to Phuoc Thien Phan as first author of an accepted paper which will be published in Nature Scientific Reports journal. This work presents new approach of using soft artificial muscle to develop smart surgical sutures that can be used in many surgical domains! 
  • November/2021: Our collaboration work with Chun Wang's group from School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering on carbon nanofiber reinforced strain sensors has been accepted for publication in Journal of Materials Chemistry A.
  • October/2021: Dr Do received 2021 Outstanding Supervisor Award from UNSW Arc Postgraduate Council (PGC) ​​
  • October/2021: Dr Do joined Editorial Board of Communications Engineering-Nature  
  • September/2021: Welcome Chi Cong Nguyen who will join us Term 3/2021 as PhD student. Chi Cong's project will develop a new generation of soft haptic interface and flexible surgical robot! The lab also welcomes two thesis students, Jack Spiggle and Ian Hadinoto who join us to work on soft compression device and wearable haptic system!
  • August/2021: Congratulations to PhD students Phuoc Thien Phan, Mai Thanh Thai, and Trung Thien Hoang for passing their second year PhD progress review.
  • July/2021: Congratulations to PhD student Phuoc Thien Phan as first author of an accepted paper which will be published in Soft Robotics  journal. This work presents new designs of smart artificial filament muscles created from twisting and braiding method of apparel engineering with applications to medical robots and wearable assistive devices. 
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  • ​Sept/2020: Our work on "3-Axis Soft Wearable Skin Stretch Haptic Device" has been featured on major international news media and TV Broadcast including UNSW Newsroom, Daily Telegraph, Channel 10, EurekAlert!, ScienceDaily, WinTV, iHeartRadio, ​​​Tech Briefs, NEW ATLAS, Tech Xplore, ACM TechNews, ScienMag, Reddit, Technology Networks, Healthtimes, Slashgear, News Break, AusBiz, Frame Magazine, etc.
  • Sept/2020: Welcome Diana Huang who joins the lab as thesis student. Diana will work on the development of a new bio-inspired soft tubular gripper.
  • Aug/2020: We filed TWO Australian provisional patents on "soft haptic devices" AND "soft fluid-driven filament artificial muscles". Congratulations to all inventors for your hard works!
  • Aug/2020: Congratulations to PhD students Phuoc Thien Phan, Mai Thanh Thai, and Trung Thien Hoang for passing their first year PhD progress review.
  • Aug/2020: Congratulations to PhD student Mai Thanh Thai as first author of an accepted IEEE Access paper on the development of a new soft 3-axis skin stretch haptic device.  ​
  • June/2020:Welcome Timotius Teh and James Davies who join the lab as thesis students. Timotius will work on a new flexible surgical robot for use in gastrointestinal cancer treatment while James will develop a high aspect ratio soft pump for soft robotics.
  • June/2020:Welcome Harrison Low who joins the lab as a new PhD student. Harrison will work on the new soft haptic interface for robotics and healthcare applications.
  • May/2019: My soft capsule robot was featured on AsianScientist, Medgadget, Medical Health News, etc.