Researcher in the Spotlight: Rishi Mohan

Together we hope to provide a robust and holistic solution to the problem of developing safe autonomous robots

Hi, my name is Rishi Mohan and I’m doing research in the Control Systems Technology research group within the Department of Mechanical Engineering. My PhD research concerns collision-free interventional environments, with the focus on collision detection and avoidance for medical X-ray systems. Professor Maarten Steinbuch is my supervisor.

Using powerful sensing technologies and object detection algorithms, my research aims at developing a safety system which predicts collisions between an X-ray robot and the surrounding environment. By using principles of control engineering and trajectory planning, the X-ray robot is provided a collision-free path to continue its movement in the intervention room.

A robust and holistic solution 

An intervention room is a complex, cluttered environment, in which objects are constantly moving. Detecting a collision in a timely manner and avoiding it in a changing, dynamic environment, poses the greatest challenge to the solution of the problem.

My research is matched with the research of Jeffrey van Pinxteren. While Jeffrey is developing new concepts for the mechanical design of X-ray systems, I am trying to design a safety system such that any new concept by Jeffrey will be able to utilize these safety systems. Together, we hope to provide a robust and holistic solution to the problem of safe autonomous robots. The results of this research will be useful in fields such as self-driving cars, autonomous drones and healthcare robots.