Emmanuel Vander Poorten

About

Emmanuel Vander Poorten is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of surgical robotics, medical mechatronics, and autonomous intervention systems. His work spans some of the most technically demanding frontiers in minimally invasive medicine, with a particular focus on ophthalmic robotics, continuum robots, endovascular navigation, and soft robotic systems. Perhaps his most celebrated achievement is leading the world's first in-human robot-assisted retinal vein cannulation (2018, 122 citations), a milestone that validated years of groundbreaking preclinical work, including the development of a specialized retinal surgical manipulator (2013, 85 citations) and successful porcine model trials (2017, 65 citations). His highly cited survey on machine learning in surgical robotics (2015, 238 citations) remains a landmark reference for researchers exploring intelligent and autonomous surgical action. Beyond ophthalmology, Vander Poorten has made significant contributions to fetoscopic intervention robotics, catheter hysteresis modeling using LSTM networks, and autonomous endoluminal navigation. His 2023 work on 3D-printed magnetically programmable soft robots (78 citations) demonstrates a versatile research vision extending into next-generation microrobotics. With nearly 1,000 citations across his most impactful papers alone, his influence on the future of safe, precise, and autonomous surgical robotics is substantial and growing.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Surgical robotics beyond enhanced dexterity instrumentation: a survey of machine learning techniques and their role in intelligent and autonomous surgical actions

   238 citations · 2015
2. 2
   In-Human Robot-Assisted Retinal Vein Cannulation, A World First

   122 citations · 2018
3. 3
   Design and realisation of a novel robotic manipulator for retinal surgery

   85 citations · 2013
4. 4
   3D Printing of Small‐Scale Soft Robots with Programmable Magnetization

   78 citations · 2023
5. 5
   Robot‐assisted retinal vein cannulation in an <i>in vivo</i> porcine retinal vein occlusion model

   65 citations · 2017
6. 6
   Hysteresis Modeling of Robotic Catheters Based on Long Short-Term Memory Network for Improved Environment Reconstruction

   64 citations · 2021
7. 7
   A Continuum Robot and Control Interface for Surgical Assist in Fetoscopic Interventions

   60 citations · 2017
8. 8
   Autonomous Navigation for Robot-Assisted Intraluminal and Endovascular Procedures: A Systematic Review

   58 citations · 2023
9. 9
   Robotic Retinal Surgery

   53 citations · 2019
10. 10
    Robotic Endoscope Control Via Autonomous Instrument Tracking

    49 citations · 2022

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links