President Alice Gast welcomed the Minister, going on to discuss the impact of entrepreneurship at Imperial on the wider economy, and the way in which universities like Imperial can play a central role in helping realise the Industrial Strategy.

Mr Skidmore, who also serves as the UK’s Space Minister, met Professor Gareth Collins, a member of the Mars InSight team that recently succeeded in broadcasting the sound of the Martian desert.

The future of medical robotics

Mr Skidmore also visited the Mechatronics in Medicine Lab, a globally renowned centre of excellence for medical robotic research. The Minister was welcomed by Professor Nigel Brandon, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, and Professor Ferdinando Rodriguez y Baena, who leads the laboratory, and a team of researchers.

The team exhibited experimental augmented reality (AR) that integrates with surgical systems for knee replacement surgery.

Under the guidance of researchers Dr Fabio Tatti and Hisham Iqbal, the Minister took part in an AR demo where he interacted with the surgical user-interface in a mixed-reality environment. Mr Skidmore saw how the technology could be of great benefit to the next generation of surgeons.

Next up was a discussion of the EDEN2020 project, which aims to develop the gold standard for one-stop diagnosis and minimally invasive treatment in neurosurgery. The Minister met researchers Dr Stefano Galvan and Marlene Pinzi, and was introduced to the lab’s signature steerable-needle system, which allows a surgeon to insert a catheter into the brain in areas which traditional methods render inaccessible, whilst avoiding obstacles (such as blood vessels and eloquent regions of the brain) by using a bio-inspired flexible probe.

The tour ended with a demonstration from researcher He Liu of the proof-of-concept work behind a novel robotic smart system for surgery, capable of automatic limb tracking, obstacle avoidance, and human-robot interaction within a cluttered operating theatre. Here, the team showcased the use of depth imaging to acquire three dimensional information about the operating theatre, and holograms overlaid on the target limb, which were updated dynamically to enhance surgical guidance for the human operator.

Caption:pic1:Chris Skidmore tries out an AR headset

pic2:Mr Skidmore meets Professor Gareth Collins, a member of the Mars InSight team, with President Gast and Professor Nigel Brandon, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering

pic3:Researcher Marlene Pinzi explains the EDEN2020 project to the Universities Minister

pic4:The Universities Minister, President Gast and students in the Enterprise Lab