Antony Hodgson

Professor
B.A.Sc., M.A.Sc. (British Columbia), Ph.D. (MIT and Harvard University),
Postdoctoral Fellowship (Clemson University)

ph: (604) 822-3240
fx: (604) 822-2403
email: ahodgson@mech.ubc.ca
website: www.sites.mech.ubc.ca/~ahodgson

Research Interests

• Computer-Assisted Surgery
• Medical Robotics
• Surgical Simulators and Skill Assessment
• Neuromotor Control
• Biomechanics

Current Research Work

We seek to understand human neuromotor control processes and apply that understanding to improving the design of surgical tools (including medical robots), assessing human motor performance in the surgical setting, evaluating rehabilitation protocols, and developing robots based on human interaction control strategies. Our main current projects include:

• • Computer-Assisted Procedures
    • The mechanical jigs used by surgeons to align joint implants or fracture fixation devices are not sufficiently accurate to allow good, reliable long-term results. We are developing tools to improve accuracy of alignment while decreasing both the additional time needed for computer-assisted procedures and the associated costs. We are also developing improved visualization and localization tools based on 3D ultrasound to avoid dependence on ionizing radiation.
  • Surgical Simulator Validation and Surgical Skill Assessment
    • Minimally invasive surgical procedures are challenging for surgeons, so simulators may play an important role in training new surgeons. We are developing processes for quantitatively assessing motor skills in the operating room and for measuring simulator fidelity; these will enable development of optimal simulators for training and certifying surgeons and for evaluating new tool designs.
  • Assessing Complexity of Motor Representations
    • Recent studies have suggested that although the human brain responds and adapts rapidly when presented with a new motor task, the mechanisms for adjusting to the new task are comparatively simple. We have recently developed a measure of the complexity of central representations of motor tasks that will enable us to test this idea.
  • Air-Muscle Actuators
    • Humans differ greatly from robots in that our actuators (ie, muscles) are compliant rather than stiff. This compliance plays a major role in making us good at manipulation tasks. We are developing a mechanical analogue of the human neuromuscular system based on compliant air-powered “muscles” to test our theories about human motor control strategies.

Selected Publications

• Plaskos C, Cinquin P, Lavallee S and Hodgson AJ. Praxiteles: a miniature bone-mounted robot for minimal access total knee arthroplasty, International Journal of Medical Robotics & Computer Assisted Surgery, 1(4): 67-79 Dec 2005
• Hwang H, Lim J, Kinnaird C, Nagy AG, Panton ON, Hodgson AJ, Qayumi KA. Correlating motor performance with surgical error in laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Surg Endoscopy. Dec 2005
• Hodgson AJ, Inkpen KB, Shekhman M, Anglin CA, Tonetti J, Masri BA, Duncan CP, Garbuz DS and Greidanus NV. Computer-assisted femoral head resurfacing. Computer Aided Surgery, 2005 Sep;10(5):337-43
• McCrea PH, Eng JJ and Hodgson AJ. Saturated muscle activation
  contributes to compensatory reaching strategies following stroke.
  Appearing in Journal of Neurophysiology 2005.

• Hodgson AJ, Inkpen KB, Shekhman M, Anglin CA, Tonetti J, Masri BA, Duncan CP, Garbuz DS and Greidanus NV. Computer-assisted femoral head resurfacing. Appearing in Computer Aided Surgery, 2005.
• Illsley S and Hodgson AJ. Quantifying soft tissue constraint with applications to computer-assisted total knee replacement. To appear in ASME Journal of Biomechanical Engineering.
• Plaskos C, Cinquin P, Hodgson AJ, Lavallée S. Safety and Accuracy Considerations in Developing a Small Sterilizable Robot for Orthopeadic Surgery. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Barcelona, Spain, April 18-22, 2005 pp. 942-947.
• Clapa D, Croft EA & Hodgson AJ. Programmable mechanical compliance and equilibrium-point control of a two degree of freedom manipulator performing contact and wiping tasks. ASME IMECE conference, Dynamic Systems and Controls Division, 2004.
• Brouwer I, Maclean K & Hodgson AJ. Simulating cheap hardware. A platform for evaluating cost-performance trade-offs in haptic hardware design. Accepted for International Conference on Robotics and Automation. March 2004.