Vision-guided suturing and knot tying
Lu Bo's Home Page
Roboticist, Researcher, and Explorer
I am a Full Professor (2026.10) in the School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering and Robotics and Micro-system Center, The Soochow Univeristy. I was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2019.07 - 2021.09) in Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering (MAE) and CUHK T Stone Robotics Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), advised by Prof. Yunhui Liu.
I received my Ph.D. degree in the Department of Mechanical Engineering (ME) , The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), supervised by Dr. Henry K. Chu and Prof. Li Cheng (co-supervisor) in Jun 2019. During my Ph. D. studies, I took the Winter School Programme on Medical Robotics at Hamlyn Center, Imperial Colleage London in 2017. Prior to my Ph.D period, I received M.S. degree, supervised by Prof. Zhongqing Su at PolyU, and B. E. degree at Dalian University of Technology (DLUT), China.
My research interests are medical robotics, computer vision, vision-based manipulation, automation and control, trajectory plan, surgical tool detection, surgical procedure analysis and understanding.
Education
- Ph.D. Degree, Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, HKSAR, Sep. 2015 ~ Jun. 2019.
- M.S. Degree, Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, HKSAR, Sep. 2013 ~ Aug, 2015.
- B.E. Degree, Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering, Dalian Univeristy of Technology, China, Sep. 2009 ~ Jul. 2013.
Professional Experience
Academic Position
- Professor, Robotics and Micro-system Center, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Soochow University, Oct. 2026 ~ Now.
- Associate Professor, Robotics and Micro-system Center, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Soochow University, Oct. 2021 ~ Oct. 2026.
- Assistant Researcher (by courtesy), Shenzhen Research Institute (SZRI), CUHK, Jul. 2019 ~ Sep. 2021.
Recent News
- 2026.10–Promoted as a Full Professor!
- 2026.06–Outstanding Young Backbone Teachers of Jiangsu Province “QingLan Project” (江苏高校“青蓝工程”优秀青年骨干教师) *2026.03–Grand Prize in the 6th Jiangsu Province College Teachers’ Teaching Innovation Competition (第六届江苏省高校教师教学创新大赛特等奖)
- 2023.10–Selected as Youth Recruitment Talents-Automation Society of China-Chinese Association for Science and Technology (中国科协自动化学会青年托举人才)
- 2023.08–Approved of Yong Innovative Leader Project of Suzhou City (苏州市青年创新领军人才)
- 2023.07–One of our paper is awarded as Best Conference Paper Finalist in IEEE ICARM 2023.
- 2023.07–One of our paper is selected as Best Student Paper Finalist in IEEE RCAR 2023.
- 2023.06–I am selected as a Representative of Young Scientists in China to attend and present in the 8th BRICS Country Forum in South Africa.
Project Experience (Up to 2023)
- Project of Youth Recruitment Talents of Chinese Association for Science and Technology, 2023. Nov ~ 2026. Oct. Total Funding: 300,000 CNY, Role: PI.
- Yong Innovative Leader Project of Suzhou City, 2023. Oct ~ 2026. SeSep. Total Funding: 500,000 CNY. Role: PI.
- Innovative Project of Key Laboratory in Jiangsu Province, 2023. Jan ~ 2025. Dec. Total Funding: 1,000,000 CNY. Role: Co-PI.
- The National Natural Science Foundation of China, Youth Funding, 2023. Jan ~ 2025. Dec. Total Funding: 300,000 CNY. Role: PI.
- The Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, Youth Funding, 2022. Jul ~ 2025. Jun. Total Funding: 200,000 CNY. Role: PI.
- General Research Funding, Key Laboratory of Jiangsu Province, 2022. Jul ~2025. Jun. Total Funding: 200,000 CNY. Role: PI.
- Excellent Young Scholar Program of Soochow University, 2021. Oct ~ 2024. Sep. Total Funding: 400,000 CNY. Role: PI.
- InnoHK, Multiscale Medical Robotic Center, Hong Kong SAR, 2020 ~ 2021.
- Innovative Funding of Shenzhen-Futian and Hong Kong Collaborative Projects, RMB50 millions, 2020 ~ 2021.
- Image-guided Automatic Robotic Surgery (Theme-based Research Scheme 2018/19, Participant, Total Research Funding: HK$47.341 millions equivalent to US$6.03 millions), 2019 ~ 2021.
- 3D fabrication of vascularized tissue constructs through a combined robotic and dielectrophoretic bio-printing system (Early Career Scheme 2016, Participant, Total Research Funding: HK$568,470), 2016 ~ 2019.
- A Vision-based and Robot-assisted Automated Surgical Knot Tying Using A Dynamical Control System (Research Grant Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Participant, Total Research Funding: HK$600,000), 2015 ~ 2018.
Honors and Rewards
- Youth Recruitment Talents-Automation Society of China-Chinese Association for Science and Technology, 2023.
- Yong Innovative Leader Project of Suzhou City, 2023.
- Best Student Paper Finalist, IEEE Conference on Real-time Computing and Robotics (RCAR), 2023.
- Best Conference Paper Finalist, IEEE Conference on Advanced Robotics and Mechatronics (ICARM), 2023.
- Best Paper Award in Medical Robotics, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2021.
- The distinction M. S. graduate in PolyU, 2015.
- The distinguished M. S. academic scholarship in PolyU, 2013 and 2014.
- The distinguished B. E. academic scholarship in DLUT, 2011.
- The distinguished B. E. academic scholarship in DLUT, 2010.
Academic Service
- Early Career Editorial Board Member of Biomimetic Intelligence and Robotics (BIRob)
- Guest Editor, Special Issues on “Advanced Technologies in Medical and Surgical Robotics”, Sensors.
- Organizing Committee (Technical) of 5th International Conference on Information Communication and Signal Processing.
- Associate Editor (AE) of IEEE Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in 2021 and 2022.
- Reviewer of IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE).
- Reviewer of IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics (T-MECH).
- Reviewer of IEEE Robotics and Automation Letter (RA-L).
- Reviewer of Frontiers in Robotics and AI.
- Reviewer of IEEE Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2024.
- Reviewer of IEEE Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) in 2020.
- Reviewer of IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM) in 2018, 2019, 2020.
Invited Talks (Up to 2021)
- Bo Lu, Invited talk on “On the Automated Manipulation of Surgical Kont Tying under Online Visual Guidance,” International Formum of Medical Robotics, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Dec, 2021.
- Bo Lu, Sharing talk, “Towards Developments of Intelligent Assistive Systems for Automated Robotic Surgery,” Soochow University, Nov, 2021.
- Bo Lu, Invited talk on: “Automation in Robot-assisted Surgical Knot Tying,”CUHK-JHU Joint Symposium on Medical Robotics, Jun. 2020.
- Bo Lu, Invited talk on: “Towards Vision-based Automated Suture Thread Suturing in Robotic Minimally Invasive Surgery,” Academic Forum of Institute of Medical Robotics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Dec. 2019.
- Bo Lu, Contributed talk on: “Robotic knot tying through a spatial trajectory with a visual servoing system,” The IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Vancouver, Canada, Sep. 2017.
Teaching Assistance
- Electronics and Electrotechnical Technology
- ME41004 - Mechatronics and Control
- ME31003 - System Dynamics
- ME42001 - Artifical Intelligence in Products
- ME42011 - Fundamentals of Robotics
- ME570 - Advanced Product Mechatronics