Theses

Journal Articles



Refereed Conference Papers



Contributed Conference Papers and Presentations

    Hammer PE, Perrin DP, del Nido PJ, Howe RD
    Image-based mass-spring model of mitral valve closure for surgical planning, SPIE Medical Imaging: Visualization, Image-guided Procedures, and Modeling, vol. 6918, pp. 69180Q1-8, 2008.

    Diamond, S.G., Howe, R.D., Schaechter, J.D.
    Effect of hypnosis on motor function and cortical activation in chronic stroke patients, 13th Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM), Chicago, IL, June 10-14, 2007.

    Amy E. Kerdok, Robert D. Howe, Simona Socrate
    Viscoelastic Characterization of Perfused Liver: Indentation Testing and Preliminary Modeling, Proceedings of the ASME 2007 Summer Bioengineering Conference (SBC2007), Keystone, CO, June 20-24, 2007.

    Aaron M. Dollar
    A Robust Robotic Hand for Unstructured Environments" Winner, 2006 ASME Student Mechanism Design Competition, Graduate Division, 2006 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences (IDETC), Philadelphia, PA, Sept. 10-13, 2006.

    Marius G. Linguraru, Robert D. Howe
    Texture-based Segmentation of Instruments in 3D Ultrasound, SPIE Medical Imaging: Image Processing, vol. 6144, pp. 61443J1-9, 2006.

    Jordan P, Zickler T, Socrate S, and Howe RD
    Non-Rigid Soft Tissue Tracking with Three-Dimensional Ultrasound (Abstract), 4th International Conference on the Ultrasonic Measurement and Imaging of Tissue Elasticity. Austin, TX, 2005.

    Novotny, PM, Dupont, PE, Savord, B, Salgo, IS, Suematsu, Y, Triedman J, Marx, G, Del Nido, PJ, and Howe, RD
    Guiding Robotic Surgery with 3D Ultrasound: A Study of Instrument Size on Surgical Performance (Abstract), Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention - MICCAI, 2005.

    Marius G. Linguraru, Paul M. Novotny, Robert D. Howe
    Enhancement of Instrument Appearance in Ultrasound Images by Distribution and Spatial Analysis, Presented at Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention (MICCAI) 2005, Palm Springs USA, October 2005.

    Douglas P Perrin, Andrew M. Ladd, Lydia E. Kavraki, Robert D. Howe, and Jeremy W. Cannon
    Fast Intersection Checking for Parametric Deformable Models, SPIE Medical Imaging 2005.

    Jordan P., Kerdok A.E., Socrate S., Howe R.D.
    Breast Tissue Parameter Identification for a Nonlinear Constitutive Model in Proceedings of the BMES conference in Baltimore, MD, 2005.

    Kerdok, A.E., Howe, R.D.
    Characterizing Large Deformation Behavior of Liver for Surgical Simulation, in Proceedings of BMES, Baltimore, MD, 2005.

    Paul M. Novotny, Marius G. Linguraru, Gerald Marx, Pedro Del Nido, Robert D. Howe
    Using Real-Time Three-Dimensional Ultrasound to Characterize Mitral Valve Motion, In Proceedings of Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) 2005, 1302, Baltimore USA, September 2005.

    Aaron M. Dollar and Robert D. Howe
    Passive Compliant Grasping for Unstructured Environments (poster), Workshop on Humanoid Manipulation, Robotics: Science and Systems Conference, Cambridge, MA, June 2005.

    Kerdok, A.E., Howe, R.D.
    A Physical Basis for a two Time Constant Constitutive Model for Liver, submitted to the 2005 ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference, June 22-26, Vail Cascade Resort & Spa, Vail, Colorado, 2005.

    Kerdok, A.E., Jordan, P., Liu, Y., Wellman, P., Socrate, S., Howe, R.D.
    Identification of Nonlinear Constitutive Law Parameters of Breast Tissue, submitted to the 2005 ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference, June 22-26, Vail Cascade Resort & Spa, Vail, Colorado, 2005.

    Wagner, C.R., Howe, R.D.
    Embedded Strain Gage Force Sensor For Robotic Surgery (poster), First Joint EuroHaptics Conference and Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environment and Teleoperator Systems, Pisa, Italy, March 2005.

    Perrin, D.P, Wagner, C.R., Geisse, N., Howe, R.D., Parker, K.K.
    Haptic Interface for Cardiac Cell Exploration Using AFM (poster), First Joint EuroHaptics Conference and Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environment and Teleoperator Systems, Pisa, Italy, March 2005.

    Kerdok, A. E., Socrate, S. and Howe, R. D.
    Soft tissue modeling and mechanics, 28th American Society of Biomechanics Annual Conference. X-CD Technologies Inc., Portland, OR. poster 235, 2004.

    Kerdok, A. E.
    The Effects of Testing Environment on Soft Tissue Properties, presented at HST Forum, Boston, MA, 2004.

    Feller, R.L., Lau, C.K.L., Wagner, C.R., Perrin, D.P., Howe, R.D.
    Tactile Feedback in Telemanipulation (video), 2004 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, New Orleans, 2004.

    Paul M. Novotny, Jeremy W. Cannon, and Robert D. Howe
    Tool Localization in 3D Ultrasound Images,Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention - MICCAI 2003, Montreal, Canada, pp. 969 - 970, 2004.

    Kerdok, A. E., Howe, R. D.
    A Technique for Measuring Mechanical Properties of Perfused Solid Organs, ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference, Key Biscayne, FL, 2003.

    Gunter, H.E.
    Mechanical stress levels in vocal folds as predictors of tissue injury, to be presented at the International Conference on Voice Physiology and Biomechanics, Denver, CO, September 17-19, 2002.

    Gunter, H.E., Howe, R.D., Hillman, R.E., Stevens, K.N.
    Analysis of Factors Affecting Vocal Fold Impact Stress Using a Mechanical Model, Submitted to the 142nd Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America. December 3-7, 2001, Ft. Lauderdale,FL.

    Kerdok, A.E.
    Soft Tissue Characterization: Mechanical Property Determination from Biopsies to Whole Organs, Whitaker Foundation Biomedical Research Conference. August 9-12, 2001, La Jolla, CA. (Poster)

    Gunter, H.E.
    Biomechanics of Voice Production, Whitaker Foundation Biomedical Research Conference. August 9-12, 2001, La Jolla, CA. (Poster)

    J. Stoll, P. Dupont, R. Howe,
    Ultrasound-based Servoing of Manipulators during Telesurgery, presented at SPIE Telemanipulator and Telepresence Technologies VIII, Newton, Massachusetts, 28 October – 2 November 2001.

    S. Selha, P. Dupont, R. D. Howe, and D. F. Torchiana
    Dexterity Optimization in Robot-Assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery,” to be presented at SPIE Telemanipulator and Telepresence Technologies VIII, Newton, Massachusetts, 28 October – 2 November 2001.

    T. Debus, T.-J. Jang, P. Dupont and R. Howe
    Multi-channel Vibrotactile Display for Sensory Substitution During Teleoperation, presented at SPIE Telemanipulator and Telepresence Technologies VIII, Newton, Massachusetts, 28 October – 2 November 2001.

    T. Debus, J. Stoll, R. D. Howe, and P. Dupont
    Cooperative Human and Machine Perception in Teleoperated Assembly” in D. Rus and S. Singh, eds., Experimental Robotics VII. The Fifth International Symposium, Honolulu, HI, December 10-13, 2000, Lecture notes in control and information sciences, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, in press.

    Y. Matsuoka and R. D. Howe
    Hand Impedance Change During Learning of a Novel Contact Task,” 2000 World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Chicago, July 23-28, 2000.

    P. S. Wellman, R. D, Howe, N. Dewagan, M. A. Cundari, E. Dalton, K. A. Kern
    Tactile Imaging: A Method for Documenting Breast Masses, Proceedings of the First Joint BMES/EMBS Conference, Atlanta, Oct. 13-16, 1999, p. 1131.

    D.T.V. Pawluk, R.D. Howe
    Dynamic Contact Mechanics of the Human Fingerpad with a Flat Surface,” Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Meeting, Cleveland, October 11 , 1998.

    R. D. Howe, T. Debus and P. Dupont
    Haptic Identification of Remote Environment Properties, Telemanipulator and Telepresence Technologies V, M. R. Stein, ed., Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 3524, Boston, November 4-5, 1998, pp. 123-130.

    R. D. Howe, D. A. Kontarinis, W.J. Peine, and P. W. Wellman
    Tactile displays for increased spatial and temporal bandwidth in haptic feedback,” in Y. Shirai and S. Hirose, eds., Robotics Research: The Eighth International Symposium, October 4-7, 1997, Hayama, Japan, Springer-Verlag, 1998.

    D. T. V. Pawluk and R. D. Howe
    Contact pressure distribution on the human finger pad,” 26th Congress of the International Society of Biomechanics, Tokyo, August 25-29, 1997, p. 335.

    Pawluk, D.T.V., Peine, W.J., Wellman, P.S. and Howe, R.D.
    Simulating Soft Tissue with a Tactile Shape Display, ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Dallas, Nov. 15-21, 1997, in B. Simon, ed., Advances in Bioengineering, ASME BED-Vol. 36, pp. 253-4.

    P.S. Wellman and R.D. Howe
    Modeling probe and tissue interaction for tumor feature extraction, 1997 ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference, Sun River, Ore., June 1997, BED-Vol. 35, p. 237-8.

    D. T. V. Pawluk and R. D. Howe
    Mechanical impedance and energy dissipation in the human finger pad, 1997 ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference, Sun River, Oregon, June 1997, BED-Vol. 35, p. 591-592.

    W.J. Peine and R. D. Howe
    Finger pad shape in lump detection, 1997 ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference, Sun River, Oregon, June 1997, BED-Vol. 35, p. 593-594.

    P.S. Wellman, W.J. Peine, G. Favalora, and R. D. Howe
    Mechanical Design and Control of a High-Bandwidth Shape Memory Alloy Tactile Display, in A. Casals and A.T. de Almeida, eds., Experimental Robotics V. The Fifth International Symposium, Barcelona, Spain, June 15-18, 1997, Lecture notes in control and information sciences vol. 232, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp. 56-66.

    Pawluk, D. and Howe, R.
    A Holistic Model of Human Touch, In J.M. Bower (Ed.) Computational Neuroscience Trends in Research (Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Computational Neuroscience Conference, Cambridge, MA, July 14-17, 1996) Plenum Press, New York, pp. 759-764, 1997.

    R. D. Howe
    Robotic skin sensors and contact mechanics signal analysis,” Workshop on the Role of Tissue Mechanics on Somatosensation, Institute for Sensory Research, Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y., June 1996.

    A. Z. Hajian and R. D. Howe
    "Variation of finger tip impedance in pinch grip," 9th Engineering Foundation Conference on Biomechanics & Neural Control of Movement, Mt. Sterling, Ohio, June 1-6, 1996.

    D. A. Kontarinis and R. D. Howe
    "Tactile displays for dextrous telemanipulation," ECPD International Conference on Advanced Robotics and Intelligent Automation, Athens, Greece, September 6-8, 1995.

    J. Son and R. D. Howe
    "Performance limits and stiffness control of multifingered hands." O. Khatib and J.K. Salisbury, eds. Experimental Robotics IV: The 4th International Symposium, Stanford, CA, June 30-July 2, 1995, Springer-Verlag Lecture Notes in Control & Information Sciences vol. 223, 1997. pp. 91-102.

    D. A. Kontarinis and R. D. Howe
    "A multiparameter tactile display system for teleoperation," T.B. Sheridan, ed., Analysis, Design and Evaluation of Man-Machine Systems 1995: Postprint volume from the Sixth IFAC/IFIP/IFORS/IEA Symposium, Cambridge, June 27-29 1995, Pergamon Press, vol. 1, pp. 83-88.

    D. A. Kontarinis and R. D. Howe
    "Static display of shape," in H. Das, ed., Telemanipulator and Telepresence Technologies, Boston, MA, October 31-November 1, 1994, Proc. SPIE vol. 2351, pp. 250-9. W.J. Peine, D. A. Kontarinis, R. D. Howe, "A remote palpation system for minimally invasive surgery," Society for Minimally Invasive Therapy Sixth International Meeting, Berlin, Germany, October 2-4, 1994.

    D. A. Kontarinis and R. D. Howe
    "Tactile display of contact shape in dextrous manipulation," in Advances in Robotics, Mechatronics, and Haptic Interfaces, DSC-vol. 49, H. Kazerooni, J. E. Colgate, and B. D. Adelstein, eds., American Society of Mechanical Engineers Winter Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Nov. 29-30, 1993, pp. 81-88.

    R. D. Howe and D. A. Kontarinis
    "High frequency force information in teleoperated manipulation," in T. Yoshikawa and F. Miyazaki, eds., Experimental Robotics III: Proc. Third International Symposium on Experimental Robotics, Kyoto, Japan, Oct. 28-30, 1993, Lecture notes in control and information sciences vol. 200, Springer-Verlag, 1994, pp. 343-352.

    D. A. Kontarinis and R. D. Howe
    "Display of high frequency tactile information to teleoperators," Telemanipulator Technology and Space Robotics Conference, Proc. SPIE vol. 2057, W. Kim, ed., Boston, MA, Sept. 7-9, 1993, pp. 40-50.

    R. D. Howe
    "External friction models for robotic manipulation," Tutorial session on friction in robotic assembly and manipulation, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Atlanta, May 2-6, 1993.

    R. D. Howe and D. Kontarinis
    "Task performance with a dextrous teleoperated hand system," Telemanipulator Technology Conference, Proc. SPIE vol. 1833, H. Das, ed., Boston, MA, Nov. 15-16, 1992, pp. 199-207.

    R. D. Howe, B. B. Edin, M. R. Cutkosky and G. Westling
    "Relaying friction information to a human operator for dextrous telemanipulation," SPIE Conference on Telerobotics: Cooperative Intelligent Robotics in Space, Boston, MA, November 12-14, 1991.

    R. D. Howe and G. Kychakoff
    "Low cost programmable correlator for industrial use," paper WI13, 1987 Conference on Lasers and Electrooptics, Baltimore, MD, April 27 - May 1, 1987.

    R. D. Howe and G. Kychakoff
    "Reflection-based fiber-optic displacement sensor," 5th international congress on Applications of Lasers and Electro-Optics, Arlington, VA, November 10-13, 1986.

    R. D. Howe and G. Kychakoff
    "Optical sensing system for thermoplastic composites forming," paper TUK48, 1986 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, San Francisco, CA, June 9-13, 1986.

    G. Kychakoff, R. D. Howe, R. K. Hanson, and K. Knapp
    "Flow visualization in combustion gases using planar laser-induced fluorescence," paper No. 83-0405, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 21st Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Reno, NV, Jan. 1983.

    G. Kychakoff, K. Knapp, R. D. Howe, and R. K. Hanson
    "Quantitative flow visualization in combustion gases," paper No. 82-60, Meeting of the Western States Section of The Combustion Institute, Livermore, CA, Oct. 11-12, 1982.



Book Chapters

    A. Z. Hajian and R. D. Howe
    Biomechanics of Manipulation: Grasping the Task at Hand,” in J. Winters and P. Crago, eds, Neural Control of Posture and Movement, Springer-Verlag, 2000, pp.382-389.

    W. J. Peine, D. A. Kontarinis, and R. D. Howe
    "A tactile sensing and display system for surgical applications," in R. M. Satava et al., eds., Interactive Technology and the New Paradigm for Healthcare, Amsterdam, IOS Press, 1995.

    R. D. Howe and M. R. Cutkosky
    "Touch sensing for robotic manipulation and recognition," in O. Khatib et al., eds., Robotics Review 2, Cambridge, MIT Press, 1992, pp. 55-112.

    M. R. Cutkosky and R. D. Howe
    "Human grasp choice and robotic grasp analysis," in S. T. Venkataraman and T. Iberall, eds., Dextrous Robot Hands, New York, Springer-Verlag, 1990.

    M. R. Cutkosky, P. Akella, R. D. Howe, and I. Kao
    "Grasping as a contact sport," in R. Bolles and B. Roth, eds., Robotics Research, Cambridge, MIT Press, pp. 199-206, 1987.



Other Publications and Presentations

    R. D. Howe and R. E. Kronauer
    Thomas McMahon: A Dedication In Memoriam,” Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering vol. 3, 2001.

    P. S. Wellman. J.S. Son, R.D. Howe
    System generating a pressure profile across a pressure sensitive membrane,” U.S. Patent No. 5,983,727, November 16, 1999.

    "Robots, surgery, and the sense of touch," Harvard University Science Center Research Lecture, April 19, 1995.

    Invited testimony, Hearing on the Future of Research-Intensive Universities and Their Relationship with the Federal Government, President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, Dr. D. Allan Bromley, Chair, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, June 24, 1992.

    R. D. Howe and G. Kychakoff
    "Fiber-optic Inverse-square Displacement Sensor," U.S. Patent No. 4,865,443, September 12, 1989.



Technical Reports


Press Coverage

    The January 22, 2004 edition of the Harvard Gazette features an article about the exciting undergraduate design course "Computer-Aided Machine Design" led by Professor Robert Howe and staffed by BioRobotics Lab members.

    The May 30, 2002 edition of the New York Times, "Circuits" section features an article on some of our research entitled "Restoring the Human Touch to Remote-Controlled Surgery"

    The October 25, 2001 edition of the Harvard Gazette features an article about some of our research in Robot Assisted Surgery.




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