Stephen R. Platt

Research Associate Professor

(402) 472-3575

Ph.D., 1991 University of Chicago
M.S., 2003 University of Nebraska-Lincoln
M.S., 1984 University of Chicago
B.A., 1983 Williams College

Dr. Platt joined the faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 2003. He has more than fifteen years of experience developing a variety of optical, electrical and mechanical systems for use in extreme environments. Dr. Platt has studied at NASA/Ames Research Center, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and is a veteran of more than a dozen technical field projects at the South Pole, and in Greenland and the Alaskan Arctic.

Research Interests:

Miniature Surgical Robotics

Objective: to develop miniature robots that can be placed entirely within the abdominal cavity during surgery. In vivo robots such as pan and tilt cameras can allow for better surgical planning and tool placement, as well as provide additional visual cues that can help surgeons explore and more completely understand the surgical environment.

Biomedical Sensors

Objective: to develop self-contained, wireless biosensor packages that can monitor surgical, environmental, and patient parameters. Sensor-equipped robots will ultimately help improve the surgeon's ability to perform more complex procedures and better monitor patient health.

Cooperative Unmanned Air and Ground Robots

Objective: to develop communication, planning and surveillance sensor data acquisition algorithms that can be used to deploy unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned ground vehicles to support perimeter security based on a changing tactical environment. The project will develop simple, inexpensive, small autonomous crafts that can be pre-programmed to follow GPS way points and continuously stream back video images. UAVs could then coordinate with ground vehicles to explore problem areas. Such cooperation could also facilitate "smart" mine fields where a UAV (or other user) could remotely configure a group of robotic land mines.

Selected Journal Papers:

Platt, S.R., Farritor, S., Garvin, K., and Haider, H., “The Use of Piezoelectric Ceramics for Electric Power Generation Within Orthopedic Implants,” ASME/IEEE Transactions on Mechatronics, 10(4): 455-61, August 2005.
Platt, S.R., Farritor, S., and Haider, H., “On Piezoelectric Power Generation with PZT Ceramics,” IEEE Transactions on Mechatronics, April, 2005, 10(2): 1-13.
Oleynikov, D., Rentschler, M., Hadzialic, A., Dumpert, J., Platt, S.R., Farritor, S., “Miniature Robots Can Assist in Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy,” Surgical Endoscopy, 19(4): 473-476, 2005.
Oleynikov, D., Rentschler, M., Dumpert, J., Platt, S.R. and Farritor, S., "In Vivo Robotic Laparoscopy," Surgical Innovations, 12(2): 177-181, 2005.
Rentschler, M., Dumpert, J., Platt, S.R., Farritor, S. and Oleynikov, D., "Mobile In Vivo Robots Provide Sole Visual Feedback for Abdominal Exploration and Cholecystectomy," Surgical Endoscopy, 2005, in press.
Rentschler, M., Dumpert, J., Platt, S.R., Iagnemma, K., Oleynikov, D. and Farritor, S., "Modeling, Analysis, and Experimental Study of In Vivo Wheeled Robotic Mobility," IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 2005, in press.
Platt, S.R., Rentschler, M., Dumpert, J., Farritor, S. and Oleynikov, D., “In Vivo Robotic Cameras can Enhance Imaging Capability During Laparoscopic Surgery” to appear in the Proceedings of the Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) Scientific Conference, Hollywood, FL, April 13-16, 2005.
Dumpert, J., Rentschler, M., Platt, S.R., Farritor, S. and Oleynikov, D., “Improving In Vivo Robot Vision Quality,” Proceedings of the 13th Annual Medicine Meets Virtual Reality Conference, January 26-29, 2005, Long Beach, California; Medicine Meets Virtual Reality, Westwood, J.D., Haluck, R.S., Hoffmann, H.M., Mogel, G.T., Phillips, R.P., Robb, R.A., and Vosburgh, K.G., eds., IOS Press, 2005.
Rentschler, M., Dumpert, J., Hadzialic, A., Platt, S.R., Oleynikov, D., Iagnemma, K. and Farritor, S., “Theoretical and Experimental Analysis of In Vivo Wheeled Mobility,” Proceedings of the ASME DETC and CIE Conference - 28th Biennial Mechanisms and Robotics Conference, 2:1241-1249, 2004.