​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



  • ​Feb/2026: Congrats Dr James Davies as first author on Advanced Science journal. This work has been also selected as Inside Front Cover
  • ​Feb/2026: Congrats Emanuele Nicrotra on his accepted paper that will be presented at ICRA26, Vienna, Austria! Also congrats Hai Nhan Le, co-supervise with Dr Tat Thang Vo Doan on his accepted paper that will be presented at RoboSoft 2026, Japan!
  • Dec/2025: Scientia A/Prof. Thanh Nho Do served as a Keynote Speaker at VinFuture Prize 2025.  The VinFuture Prize is a global annual award established by Vietnam's VinFuture Foundation, recognizing scientific breakthroughs that significantly improve lives, focusing on creating a more equitable and sustainable world. The VinFuture Prize has a strong track record of identifying future Nobel laureates by recognizing groundbreaking science early
  • Oct/2025: Congrats Kefan Zhu for his Finalist Paper Award at IEEE IROS 2025
  • ​July/2025: Congrats Patrick as first author of an accepted and inviated paper that will be published in Advacned Robotics Research. This work introduces a Novel Wearable Eyelid Muscle Devicefor Eyelid Closure!
  • June/2025: Dr Do awarded a highly prestigious and competitive "2025 NSW Cardiovascular Early–Mid Career Researcher Grant!" from NSW Health!
  • June/2025: Congrats James Davies on "2024 Best Paper of the Year" in Bionics, Biomechanics, and Biomechatronics​​

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  • ​April/2025: Congrats to Kefan Zhu as first author on the acceptance of a paper that will be published in prestigious Cyborg and Bionic Systems journal. This work introduces a soft endoscopic robot for gastrointestinal cancer treatment.
  • April/2025: Congrats to Lachlan Fitzgerald (Dr Tat-Thang Vo Doan's group) as first author on the acceptance of a paper that will be published in prestigious Advanced Science journal. This work introduces a new Zoborg system with On-demand Climbing Control for Cyborg Beetles.
  • April/2025: Exciting News! 🎉 Our works have been featured as Wiley Top Viewed Articles ​
  • April/2025: Exciting News! 🎉 Our latest research has been selected as the Frontispiece in Advanced Intelligent Systems!​

  • Mar/2025: Exciting News! 🎉 Our latest research has been selected as the Front Cover Article in Advanced Science!​

  • Jan/2025: Dr Do and the UNSW Medical Robotics Lab have been featured by Tech Business News with "Medical Robots Revolutionising Healthcare In Australia (2024)!"
  • Dec/2024: Congrats Bibhu Sharma as first author on the acceptance of a paper that will be published in prestigious Advanced Intelligent Systems journal. This work introduces a novel soft artificial shoulder mechanism capable of replicating human shouder motion!
  • Dec/2024: Dr Do awarded 2025 Research Infrastructure Scheme (RIS) for acquiring Olympus EVIS X1 Advanced Endoscopy System!
  • Dec/2024: Dr Do awarded a highly prestigious and competitive NHMRC Ideas grant. He will lead a multidisciplinary team consisting of biomedical engineers and clinicians to develop innovative soft robotic solution for early cancer diagnosis and treatment!​​​
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  • Oct/2024: Congrats Patrick and Akira on the BESS & MBH AWARD for Scientific Communication!​​

  • Oct/2024. Congrats Bibhu on "Best Poster Award" at the "Bio-inspired, Biomimetics, and Biohybrid (Cyborg) Systems" Workshop, IROS 2024.​

  • Aug/2024: First Science Robotics paper from the lab and from UNSW! Congrats to PhD student, James Davies, as first author of an accepted Science Robotics! This work introduces A Soft Robotic Artificial Left Ventricle Simulator Capable of Reproducing Myocardial Biomechanics!
  • Aug/2024: Dr Do won the prestigious 2024 NSW Young Tall Poppy Science Award!

  • ​April/2024: Dr Do won the NSW CVRN 2024 Professional Development Award!​
  • Feb/2024: Featured by Reuters, Our  'flexible robot' that can 3D print inside the human body was listed as Top FOUR robots of the year 2023.
  • ​Jan/2024: Congrats Emanuele Nicrotra on his accepted paper that will be presented at ICRA24, Yokohama, Japan! This work introduces a Soft Micro-Robotic Catheter for Aneurysm Treatment!
  • Jan/2024: Our work on Soft wearable haptic for teleoperated endoscopic robot published in Advanced Sensor Research  has been featured as Inside Front Cover.​
  • ​Jan/2024: Congrats Peter Qiu as first author of a review paper published in Small journal on Integrated sensors and electronics for soft medical robotics.
  • ​Nov/2023. Congrats Dr Phuoc Thien Phan as first author of an accepted paper that will be published in Advanced Intelligent Systems journal. This work introduces a bio-inspired soft cardiac compressive device for the treatment of heart failure!
  • Oct/2023: Congrats Kefan Zhu as first author of an accepted paper on Smart Textile-Driven Soft Exosuit for Spinal Assistance that will be published in Sensors. 
  • Oct/2023: Congrats Dr Mai Thanh Thai as first author of an accepted paper that will be published in Advanced Sensor Research. This work introduces a new Soft Wearable Haptic Display and Flexible 3D Force Sensor for Teleoperated Surgical Systems
  • ​Sept/2023: Congrats Dr Phuoc Thien Phan and Dr Trung Thien Hoang for Dean’s Award for Outstanding PhD Theses
  • Aug/2023: A collaborative work with Phan's lab publsihed in Advanced Functional Materials  has been featured as Inside Back Cover.​
  • Sept/2023. Congrats to Dr Trung Thien Hoang who has been awarded degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). 
  • Aug/2023. Congrats to Dr Phuoc Thien Phan who has been awarded degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). 
  • Aug/2023. Congrats to Dr Mai Thanh Thai who has been awarded degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). Dr Mai Thanh Thai will also join VinUniversity as Assistant Professor this Sept/2023! Well done, Thanh.
  • July/2023. Our team received ONE x "Best Poster Award" and TWO x "Finalist Award"at the "Bio-inspired, Biomimetics, and Biohybrid (Cyborg) Systems" Workshop, EMBC, Sydney, 2023.​
  • July/2023. Congrats Phuoc Thien Phan as first author of an accepted paper that will be published in Sensors and Actuators A: Physical journal. This work introduces nonlinear modelling and control with wireless actuation of a smart textile!
  • July/2023: Welcome Kefan Zhu and Sinuo Zhao (jointly supervise with Hoang-Phuong Phan) as PhD students.
  • June/2023. Prof. John A. Rogers from Northwestern University, USA has visited the UNSW Medical Robotics Lab!
  • June/2023. Congrats Sinuo Zhao as first author of an accepted paper that will be published in Sensors journal.
  • ​​​June/2023: Our team received the "Best Poster Award" at the "Bio-inspired, Biomimetics, and Biohybrid (Cyborg) Systems" Workshop, ICRA 2023.​
  • ​​May/2023: Congrats to Chi Cong Nguyen as first author of an accepted paper that will be published in IEEE Trans on Medical Robotics and Bionics. This work introduces a new concept of a Handheld Hydraulic Soft Robotic Device with Bidirectional Bending End-Effector for Minimally Invasive Surgery.
  • May/2023: Our surgical robotic arm (F3DB) has been featured in  Magazine of Medical Design & Outsourcing!
  • April/2023: Congrats to Chi Cong Nguyen as first author of an accepted paper that will be published in Sensors and Actuators A: Physical. This work introduces  a Soft Robotic Catheter with variable stiffness and force sensing for Vascular Intervention Surgery.
  • April/2023: Dr Do's perspective on 7 Medical Robots that May Save Your Life, which has been featured on ROBOTICS COLLECTIONS from the ​American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). 
  • April/2023: A collaborative work with Phan's lab has been accepted for publication in Advanced Functional Materials. This work develops stretchable, three-dimensional microarchitectures of wide bandgap semiconductors for biomedical applications.
  • April/2023: Dr Do's research was filmed by Truyen Hinh Quoc Hoi, on special section "Tạp Chí Người Việt". 
  • April/2023: Dr Do has been filmed by VTV1 (Chào Buổi Sáng), VTV1 (High Tech Công Nghệ), HTV7, VTV4 (Người Việt Bốn Phương), the most popular Vietnamese Televisions. 
  • April/2023: Dr Do has been featured in VNEXPRESS, the most popular Vietnamese online newspaper. 
  • April/2023: Dr Do received 2023 GROW Early Career Academics Grant!
  • March/2023: Our work on Flexible Soft 3D Bioprinter has been filmed by ​Thomson Reuters and many other international TV programs.​ Full writing story from Reuters can be found here.
  • March/2023: A collaborative work with Jelena Rnjak-Kovacina on emerging silk materials and their applications has been accepted for publication in Materials Today
  • March/2023: Our work on bio-inspired soft sensor with tuneable sensitivity published in Advanced Materials Technologies  has been featured as Inside Front Cover.​
  • ​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: 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.