Rainer Burgkart

About

Rainer Burgkart is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of robotics and orthopedic biomechanics, whose work spans two seemingly disparate but deeply connected fields: human-safe robot control and musculoskeletal joint mechanics. His most influential contribution to robotics is the development of injury-aware control systems, as demonstrated in his highly cited 2012 paper "On making robots understand safety" (191 citations), which introduced the radical concept that robots must possess quantitative knowledge of the physical harm they could inflict on humans to achieve truly safe interaction. Simultaneously, Burgkart has made substantial contributions to orthopedic biomechanics, using robotic technology to investigate knee and shoulder joint mechanics with unprecedented precision. His work has elucidated the stabilizing effects of lateral meniscal root repair in ACL-deficient knees (91 citations) and compared surgical techniques for Hill-Sachs defects (123 citations). Notably, he developed the Munich Knee Joint Simulator, a 9-DOF haptic display system that enables virtual reality surgical training with lifelike kinesthetic feedback. By applying robotic force control to biomechanical testing, Burgkart has created a unique bridge between engineering and medicine, advancing both surgical understanding and the fundamental principles of human-robot interaction.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   On making robots understand safety: Embedding injury knowledge into control

   191 citations · 2012
2. 2
   Effect of three remplissage techniques on tendon coverage and shoulder kinematics: a navigated robotic biomechanical study

   123 citations · 2016
3. 3
   Repair of the lateral posterior meniscal root improves stability in an ACL-deficient knee

   91 citations · 2018
4. 4
   Distal femoral torsional osteotomy increases the contact pressure of the medial patellofemoral joint in biomechanical analysis

   48 citations · 2018
5. 5
   A truly safely moving robot has to know what injury it may cause

   47 citations · 2012
6. 6
   A robotic C-arm fluoroscope

   19 citations · 2005
7. 7
   Elastic properties of an intact and ACL-ruptured knee joint: Measurement, mathematical modelling, and haptic rendering

   16 citations · 2005
8. 8
   A novel application of direct force control to perform in-vitro biomechanical tests using robotic technology

   12 citations · 2013
9. 9
   Optimised robot-based system for the exploration of elastic joint properties

   11 citations · 2004
10. 10
    Physical Interaction with a Virtual Knee Joint—The 9 DOF Haptic Display of the Munich Knee Joint Simulator

    9 citations · 2006

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links