IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics & Bionics

The IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics (T-MRB) is published under the joint sponsorship of

    IEEE Robotics & Automation Society

    IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society

 

AIMS AND SCOPE

The IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics (T-MRB) is a quarterly Green Open Access (see details in Information for Authors) multi-disciplinary journal aimed at publishing peer-reviewed papers and focused on innovative research ideas and medical application results, reporting significant theoretical findings and application case studies in the areas of medical robotics and bionics.

The IEEE T-MRB publishes non-incremental results on innovative systems able to support prevention, diagnosis or treatment of human diseases. Such systems can be based on robotics and automation technology-related paradigms (e.g. surgical robots, devices for physical and cognitive rehabilitation, supporting systems for independent living, etc.) on bionics paradigms (e.g. medical systems which mimic living organisms or technologies that intimately interact with the human body), or the combinations of them, e.g. robotic artificial organs and other active implantable devices featuring direct interfaces to the human body. In addition, T-MRB promotes works investigating mechanisms and principles observed in nature in order to unravel scientific issues, and to exploit them to develop innovative bionic technologies for medical applications. 

Main journal topic include:

• Surgical Robotics;
• Rehabilitation and Assistive Robotics;
• Bionic Prostheses;
• Sensory Substitution;
• Artificial/Bioartificial Bionic Organs;
• Medical Biomimetic Technologies.

The journal also welcomes survey and commentary papers providing: critical, systematic review of research areas and trends within its scope; evidence-based studies on early clinical validation of robotic or bionic technologies, and contributions on ethical, social, economic, and organizational aspects concerning robotics and/or bionic solutions for medical and healthcare applications.

Submissions are OPEN!

We invite authors to submit their manuscripts via ScholarOne Manuscripts at the following link: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tmrb-ieee. 

Detailed information for Authors are available online.

NEWS

Current Special Sections

ICAR2021 - 20^th International Conference on Advanced Robotics

ICAR is one of the most established robotics conferences in the world. This Special Section will deliver an overview of the state-of-the-art research on Medical Robotics and Bionics presented in ICAR2021. The best papers will be encouraged to submit and extended version of the work presented in the Conference.

Topics include, but not limited to:

·         innovative systems able to support prevention, diagnosis or treatment of human diseases;

·         robotics and automation technology-related paradigms (e.g. surgical robots, devices for physical and cognitive rehabilitation, supporting systems for independent living, etc.);

·         bionics paradigms (e.g. medical systems which mimic living organisms or technologies that intimately interact with the human body);

·         mechanisms and principles observed in nature.

Manuscripts must be submitted on-line, through the IEEE submission procedure, available at: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tmrb-ieee.

Authors should follow the regular procedure to submit a paper to T-MRB and they must clearly specify in the cover letter that the submission is intended for possible inclusion in the Special Section entitled on 20th International Conference on Advanced Robotics - ICAR2021.

Guest Editors: Alícia Casals, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain, and Marko Munih, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Deadline for papers submission: February 28, 2022

 

Publication date: Volume 4, Issue 3 (August 2022) 

 

CALL FOR PAPERS

Sensors for Physical Interaction and Perception in Minimally Invasive Robotic Surgery

This Special Section aims at presenting contributions on sensors for monitoring and rendering physical interaction to increase perception in surgical robotics, such as, for example, force/torque, contact, proximity, virtual sensors and their corresponding feedback devices. This Special Section will contribute to clarify the field, help defining the promising technologies and their applications, and list the progress in using interaction data to simplify surgery tasks. Interaction among sensors and new haptic devices for increasing perception in surgeons are others interesting aspects included in the topics of the special issue/section.

Topics include, but not limited to:

·         Force/Torque Sensors for Surgical Robotic Instruments;

·         Force Feedback, Estimation and Measurement;

·         Optical Fibre Sensors;

·         Tactile and proximity Sensors;

·         Vision and Virtual Sensors;

·         Design of Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) Load Cell for Surgery;

·         Strain Gauges and Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG);

·         Multi-Axis Force Platforms and Stewart Platform;

·         Suture Tensile and Tool-Tissue Interaction;

·         Smart Instruments and Tissue Palpation;

·         Flexure Hinge and Force Decoupling.

·         Modelling, Control and Design of Micro Force/Torque Sensors;

·         Machine Learning and AI for Sensory data Analysis and Validation;

·         Disposable Sensors and Sterilization;

·         Design of Haptic Devices with Force and touch rendering for Telesurgery;

·         Interaction Among Sensors for Perception in Robotic Surgery.

Manuscripts must be submitted on-line, through the IEEE submission procedure, available at: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tmrb-ieee.

Authors should follow the regular procedure to submit a paper to T-MRB and they must clearly specify in the cover letter that the submission is intended for possible inclusion in the Special Section entitled “Interaction Sensors for Minimally Invasive Robotic Surgery”.

Guest Editors: Prof. Paolo Fiorini, University of Verona, Italy, and Dr. Giovanni Gerardo Muscolo,  University of Verona, Italy.

Deadline for papers submission: September 15, 2022

 

Publication date: Volume 5, Issue 2 (May 2023)

 

Forthcoming Special Sections

CRAS 2022[RR1] - “11th CONFERENCE ON NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR COMPUTER AND ROBOT ASSISTED SURGERY”

Following the presentations in the 11^th CRAS conference on new technologies for computer and robot assisted surgery, this special issue collects a selection of works that cover various aspects related to robotic break throughs into the Operating Room. Robotic surgery is increasingly effective in this XXI’th century. Its progress has been accelerating significantly over the last years which installed systems exceeding 10.000 operation robots in hospitals worldwide. This special issue aims to contribute to this acceleration by making a selection of key findings available to the wider and scientific communities.

Potential topics include but are not limited to:

Communications are expected on advances in the following fields: virtual and augmented reality techniques applied to training, planning, and assisted guidance; new techniques to introduce effective haptic feedback; new devices, technologies, and procedures for less invasive surgery or tools to facilitate the execution of complex surgical tasks; and artificial intelligence for planning, guidance, and autonomous operations.

Guest Editors:

Alícia Casals, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain, Fanny Ficuciello, University of Naples, Italy, Emmanuel Vander Poorten, KU Leuven, Paolo Fiorini, University of Verona, Italy

Deadline for papers submission: August 20, 2022

Publication date: Volume 5, Issue 2 (May 2023)

HSMR 2022 - 14^th Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics

2022 Theme: MedTech Reimagined

Additional info to be announced

PAST ISSUES

2022 (Volume 4)

·         Volume 4 Issue 1 (February 2022[RR2]). Includes a Special Section on Surgical Vision, Navigation, and Robotics. Guest Editors: Xiongbiao Luo, Danail Stoyanov, Nobuhiko Hata, Alejandro F. Frangi

·         Volume 4 Issue 2 (May 2022[RR3]). Includes a Special Section on the Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics 2021[RR4]. Guest Editors: George Mylonas, Maarja Kruusmaa, Alberto Arezzo

2021 (Volume 3)

• Volume 3 Issue 1 (February 2021). Full Regular Issue Papers
• Volume 3 Issue 2 (May 2021). Includes a Focused Section on Bionic Organs and Tissues. Guest Editors: Prof. Leonardo Ricotti, Prof. Ellen Roche, and Prof. Toshinori Fujie.
• Volume 3 Issue 3 (August 2021). Includes a Special Section on BioRob2020. Guest Editors: Prof. Sunil Agrawal, and Prof. Ellen Roche.
• Volume 3, Issue 4 (November 2021). Includes a Special Section on CRAS2020. Guest Editors: Prof. Alícia Casals, Dr. Albert Hernansanz, Prof. Arianna Menciassi, and Prof. Emmanuel Vander Poorten.

2020 (Volume 2)

• Volume 2 Issue 1 (February 2020). Full Regular Issue Papers
• Volume 2 Issue 2 (May 2020). Includes a Special Section on the Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics 2019. Guest Editors: Prof. Guang-Zhong Yang, Prof. Paolo Fiorini, Dr. Giulio Dagnino, and Dr. Cameron Riviere.
• Volume 2 Issue 3 (August 2020). Includes a Special Section on the IEEE CBS Conference on Cyborg and Bionic Systems 2019. Guest Editors: Prof. Alois Knoll and Prof. Rüdiger Dillmann.
• Volume 2 Issue 4 (November 2020). Includes a Special Section on the Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics 2020. Guest Editors: Dr. Kevin Cleary, Prof. Ara Darzi, Prof. Daniel Elson, and Prof. Ferdinando Rodriguez Y Baena.

2019 (Volume 1)

• Volume 1 Issue 1 (February 2019). Inaugural Issue. The First Issue of T-MRB is linked to the 7th IEEE RAS/EMBS BioRob2018 Conference. Guest Editors: Prof. Herman van der Kooij and Prof. Sarthak Misra.
• Volume 1 Issue 2 (May 2019). Full Regular Issue Papers
• Volume 1 Issue 3 (August 2019). Full Regular Issue Papers
• Volume 1 Issue 4 (November 2019). Includes a Special Section on the IEEE CBS (conference on Cyborg and Bionic Systems) 2018.  Guest Editors: Prof. Guanglin Li, Prof. Qiang Huang, and Prof. Mamoru Mitsuishi.