(1) To help ophthalmologists diagnose and treat patients and
(2) To assist people with low vision to live a better and safer life.
The current projects include assistive devices for people with low vision, diagnostic tools, and surgical devices.
The team currently has the following ongoing projects:
- Vision Assistive Device: This research designs products for people with low vision that can make activities of daily life, such as grocery shopping and operating appliances, much easier to perform. The user will be offered enhanced depth perception, as well as magnified images.
- Vitreous Biopsy Device: This project is developing a novel medical device that can safely extract fluid from the eye. This fluid can yield useful data for diagnostic tests; however, the fluid is very difficult to extract safely without invasive procedures.
- Automated Surgical Instruments Tracking: We will identify and implement reliable and non-intrusive smart techniques for tracking surgical tools during ophthalmic surgeries to assist with training and best practices.
Meeting time and location:
For academic credit, our MDP course is classified as a hybrid course but will mainly meet remotely, following university public health informed guidelines. In the past, our team has typically met at Fridays 8 am- 9 am ET in GG Brown, but a best time will be finalized for each subteam to meet via BlueJeans video conference (distance synchronous communication) for this semester. A two-term commitment will begin January 2021.
Team organization:
Each Assisted Vision subteam has a team leader that reports to and meets with the faculty PI. The teams are flexibly structured to enhance creativity and opportunity for student growth. We have the following project teams: Vision Assistive Device, Vitreous Biopsy Device, and Automated Surgical Instruments Tracking.