3. Nikhil Deshpande

Nikhil Deshpande

Researcher
Research Scientist, Project Co-ordinator - INAIL-Teleoperazione project

Research Lines

Advanced Robotics

Center

IIT Central Research Labs Genova

Contacts

+39 010 2896 805

About

I am a Researcher in the Advanced Robotics research line, leading the VICARIOS group, to develop novel, mixed reality user interfaces for advanced robotic teleoperation systems.

I am currently leading the "SISTEMI CIBERNETICI COLLABORATIVI - TELEOPERAZIONE" project, which will create next-generation, collaborative teleoperation systems for intuitive operation in hazard-prone environments and industry. Specifically, the objectives are the development and integration of technologies including: (i) novel hydraulic quadruped field robot; (ii) new dexterous robotic manipulator arm; (iii) novel master hand exoskeleton haptic device; and (iv) new user interaction interfaces with augmented and virtual reality systems. 

My previous research focused on the design and development of robot-assisted surgical tools for microsurgery, particularly, transoral laser microsurgery. The research also involved holistic design, development, and assessment of novel devices and intuitive user interfaces for robot-assisted technologies using GUI software, computer vision techniques, and human factors and usability studies. My research background is in distributed wireless sensing, autonomous navigation, sensor fusion, mechanical design, and user interface development.

Originally from Pune, India, I graduated with a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from the Government College of Engineering (COEP), in 2003. The bug to tinker with robots led me to an applications engineering position with Rockwell Automation India Ltd., in New Delhi, India, which introduced me to the basics of plant automation and industrial robots for manufacturing processes and automobile assembly lines. The curiosity to design robots and improve them got me to pursue graduate studies in USA.

Beginning with my Master’s in Integrated Manufacturing Systems Engineering at North Carolina State University (NCSU) in 2005, I got the opportunity to design and program mobile robots, and work on state-of-the-art technologies including wireless sensor networks. Here, under the guidance of Prof. Steve Jackson, I developed a smart-home automation solution for in-situ wall-moisture sensing using low-power WSNs. Subsequently, I joined the Center for Robotics and Intelligent Machines (CRIM) at NCSU to continue on for my PhD in Electrical Engineering with Prof. Edward Grant. My dissertation was on sensor-network assisted mobile robot navigation. 

In the summer of 2011, I interned at the Robert Bosch Robotics Research Center in California, working manipulator state estimation using low cost sensing technology - accelerometers and gyroscopes. I collaborated with the Stanford Biorobotics group (Prof. Kenneth Salisbury) and adapted my solution for the PR2 robot arm as well as the new low-cost Stanford Arm.

Projects

(1) "Sistemi Cibernetici Collaborativi - Teleoperazione" (2017 - 2020), https://advr.iit.it/projects/inail-scc/teleoperazione.

in collaboration with INAIL ("Istituto Nazionale per l'Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro")

(2) μRALP (2012 - 2014, www.microralp.eu)

European Union Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013 – Challenge 2 – Cognitive Systems, Interaction, Robotics

Selected Publications

Journal Publications:

  1. Manish Chauhan, Nikhil Deshpande, Darwin G. Caldwell, Leonardo S. Mattos, "Design and Modeling of a Three-Degree-of-Freedom Articulating Robotic Microsurgical Forceps for Trans-Oral Laser Microsurgery", ASME Journal of Medical Devices, Vol. 13, Iss. 2, 2019, pp. 021006-021006-9.
  2. Nikhil Deshpande, Giorgio Peretti, Francesco Mora, Luca Guastini, Jinoh Lee, Giacinto Barresi, Darwin G. Caldwell, Leonardo S. Mattos, "Design and Study of a Next Generation Computer Assisted System for Transoral Laser Microsurgery", OTO Open, Vol. 2, SAGE Publications Inc., 2018.
  3. Nikhil Deshpande, Jesús Ortiz, Ioannis Sarakoglou, Claudio Semini, Nikos Tsagarakis, Anais Brygo, Jorge Fernandez, Marco Frigerio, Lorenzo Saccares, Stefano Toxiri, and Darwin G. Caldwell, "Next Generation Collaborative Robotic Systems for Industrial Safety and Health", in Safety and Security Engineering VII, C. A. Brebbia, F. Garzia, M. Lombardi (eds.), WIT Transactions on the Built Environment, Vol. 174, 2017, pp. 187-200.
  4. Leonardo S. Mattos, Nikhil Deshpande, Giacinto Barresi, Luca Guastini, and Giorgio Peretti, "A Novel Computerized Surgeon-Machine Interface for Robot-Assisted Laser Phonomicrosurgery", The Laryngoscope, Vol. 124, Iss. 8, DOI: 10.1002/lary.24566, John Wiley & Sons, Aug. 2014, pp. 1887-94.
  5. Nikhil Deshpande, Edward Grant, and Thomas C. Henderson, "Target Localization and Autonomous Navigation using Wireless Sensor Networks  - A Pseudo-Gradient Algorithm Approach", IEEE Systems Journal Special Issue on Sensor Networks for Advanced Localization Systems, Vol. 8, Iss. 1, March 2014, pp. 93-103.
Conference Publications:
  1. Abdeldjallil Naceri, Dario Mazzanti, Joao Bimbo, Domenico Prattichizzo, Darwin G. Caldwell, Leonardo S. Mattos, and Nikhil Deshpande, "Towards a Virtual Reality Interface for Remote Robotic Teleoperation", In Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Advanced Robotics (ICAR 2019), pp. -, Dec 2-6, 2019, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
  2. Nikhil Deshpande, Leonardo S. Mattos, and Darwin G. Caldwell, "New Motorized Micromanipulator for Robot-Assisted Laser Phonomicrosurgery", In Proceedings of 2015 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2015), pp. 4755-4760, May 26-30, 2015, Seattle, USA. 
  3. Nikhil Deshpande, Edward Grant, Mark Draelos, and Thomas C. Henderson, "Received Signal Strength based Bearing-only Robot Navigation in a Sensor Network field", In Proceedings of 2014 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2014), pp. 4618-4623, Sept. 14-18, 2014, Chicago, USA.
  4. Nikhil Deshpande, Jesus Ortiz, Darwin G. Caldwell, and Leonardo S. Mattos, "Enhanced Computer-Assisted Laser Microsurgeries with a “Virtual Microscope” based surgical system", In Proceedings of 2014 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2014), pp. 4194-4199 , May 31-Jun 7, 2014, Hong Kong, China.
  5. Nikhil Deshpande, Leonardo S. Mattos, Giacinto Barresi, Andrea Brogni, Giulio Dagnino, Luca Guastini, Giorgio Peretti, Darwin G. Caldwell, "Imaging based Metrics for Performance Assessment in Laser Phonomicrosurgery", In Proceedings of 2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2013), pp. 4850 - 4856, May 6-10, 2013, Karlsruhe, Germany.
  6. Philip Roan, Nikhil Deshpande, Yizhou Wang, and Benjamin Pitzer, "Manipulator State Estimation with Low-cost Accelerometers and Gyroscopes",  In Proceedings of 2012 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2012), pp. 4822-4827, Oct. 7-12, 2012, Vilamoura, Portugal.
  7. Nikhil Deshpande, Edward Grant, and Thomas C. Henderson, "Target-directed Navigation using Wireless Sensor Networks and Implicit Surface Interpolation", In Proceedings of 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2012), pp. 457-462, May 14-18, 2012, St. Paul, USA.
  8. Nikhil Deshpande, Edward Grant, and Thomas C. Henderson, "Experiments with a “Pseudo-Gradient” Algorithm for Target Localization Using Wireless Sensor Networks", In Proceedings of 2010 IEEE International Conference on Multisensor Fusion and Integration for Intelligent Systems (MFI 2010), pp. 74-79, Sept. 5-7, 2010, Salt Lake City, USA.

IIT Publications

  • 2020
  • Lee J.iit, Deshpande N.iit, Caldwell D.G.iit, Mattos L.S.iit
    DOI

    Microscale Precision Control of a Computer-Assisted Transoral Laser Microsurgery System

    IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, vol. 25, (no. 2), pp. 604-615
  • 2019
  • Chauhan M., Deshpande N.iit, Pacchierotti C., Meli L., Prattichizzo D.iit, Caldwell D.G.iit, Mattos L.S.iit
    DOI

    A robotic microsurgical forceps for transoral laser microsurgery

    Computer-Assisted Radiology and Surgery, vol. 14, (no. 2), pp. 321-333
  • Chauhan M., Deshpande N.iit, Caldwell D.G.iit, Mattos L.S.iit
    DOI

    Design and Modeling of a Three-Degree-of-Freedom Articulating Robotic Microsurgical Forceps for Trans-Oral Laser Microsurgery

    Journal of Medical Devices, Transactions of the ASME, vol. 13, (no. 2)
  • Deshpande N.iit, Acemoglu A., Peretti G., Mora F., Guastini L., Lee J.iit, Barresi G.iit, Caldwell D. G.iit, Mattos L. S.iit

    Design and study of a next-generation computer-assisted system for transoral laser microsurgery

    9th CRAS + 30th SPIGC joint conference
  • Acemoglu A., Deshpande N.iit, Lee J.iit, Caldwell D.G.iit, Mattos L.iit

    The CALM System: New Generation Computer-Assisted Laser Microsurgery

    2019 19th International Conference on Advanced Robotics
  • Naceri A., Mazzanti D., Bimbo J., Prattichizzo D.iit, Caldwell D., Mattos L.iit, Deshpande N.iit

    Towards a Virtual Reality Interface for Remote Robotic Teleoperation

    2019 19th International Conference on Advanced Robotics
  • Sani M.F., Emery B., Caldwell D., Mattos L.iit, Deshpande N.iit

    Towards Sound-source Position Estimation using Mutual Information for Next Best View Motion Planning,

    2019 19th International Conference on Advanced Robotics
  • 2018
  • Deshpande N.iit, Peretti G., Mora F., Guastini L., Lee J.iit, Barresi G.iit, Caldwell D. G.iit, Mattos L. S.iit

    Design and Study of a Next Generation Computer Assisted System for Transoral Laser Microsurgery

    OTO Open, vol. 2, (no. 2), pp. 1-10
  • Schiatti L.iit, Tessadori J.iit, Deshpande N.iit, Barresi G.iit, King L.C.iit, Mattos L.S.iit
    DOI

    Human in the Loop of Robot Learning: EEG-Based Reward Signal for Target Identification and Reaching Task

    Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 4473-4480
  • Deshpande N.iit, Ortiz J.iit, Sarakoglou I.iit, Semini C.iit, Tsagarakis N.iit, Brygo A.iit, Fernandez J.iit, Frigerio M.iit, Saccares L.iit, Toxiri S.iit, Caldwell D.G.iit
    DOI

    Next-generation collaborative robotic systems for industrial safety and health

    WIT Transactions on the Built Environment, vol. 174, pp. 187-200
  • 2017
  • Acemoglu A., Deshpande N.iit, Mattos L.iit

    A Magnetic Laser Scanner for Non-Contact Endoscopic Ablations

    The Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics
  • Chauhan M.iit, Deshpande N.iit, Barresi G.iit, Pacchierotti C., Prattichizzo D.iit, Caldwell D.G.iit, Mattos L.S.iit
    DOI

    Design and control of a novel robotic microsurgical forceps for Transoral Laser Microsurgery

    IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics, AIM, pp. 737-742
  • Chauhan M., Deshpande N.iit, Mattos L. S.iit

    Design of a Robotic Microsurgical Forceps for Transoral Laser Microsurgery

    7th Joint Workshop on New Technologies for Computer/Robot Assisted Surgery
  • Guastini L., Mattos L.S.iit, Deshpande N.iit, Mora F., Peretti G.

    Innovative Laser Control in Transoral Laser Microsurgery

    American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation Annual Meeting
  • Deshpande N.iit, Guastini L., Mora F., Barresi G.iit, Mattos L. S.iit, Peretti G.

    RALP: Robot-assisted Laser Phonomicrosurgery provides precise and intuitive laser micromanipulation for uniform resections

    21st ENT World Congress, International Federation of ORL Societies
  • Acemoglu A.iit, Deshpande N.iit, Mattos L.iit
    DOI

    Towards a Magnetically Actuated Laser Scanner for Endoscopic Microsurgeries

    Journal of Medical Robotics Research, vol. 3
  • 2016
  • Deshpande N., Grant E., Henderson T.C., Draelos M.T.
    DOI

    Autonomous navigation using received signal strength and bearing-only pseudogradient interpolation

    Robotics and Autonomous Systems, vol. 75, pp. 129-144
  • Chauhan M.iit, Mattos L.S.iit, Caldwell D.G.iit, Deshpande N.iit
    DOI

    Design and modeling of novel modular 2 DOF microsurgical forceps for transoral laser microsurgeries

    IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics, AIM, vol. 2016-September, pp. 1339-1344
  • Chauhan M., Deshpande N.iit, Caldwell D. G., Mattos L. S.iit

    Design of robot-assisted microsurgical forceps for Transoral Laser Microsurgery

    6th Joint Workshop on New Technologies for Computer/Robot Assisted Surgery
  • Chauhan M.iit, Barresi G.iit, Deshpande N.iit, Caldwell D.G.iit, Mattos L.S.iit
    DOI

    Novel modular 2-DOF microsurgical forceps for transoral laser microsurgeries: Ergonomic design and preliminary evaluation

    Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology - Proceedings, vol. 2016-October, pp. 5216-5219
  • Deshpande N.iit, Chauhan M.iit, Pacchierotti C.iit, Prattichizzo D.iit, Caldwell D.G.iit, Mattos L.S.iit
    DOI

    Robot-assisted microsurgical forceps with haptic feedback for transoral laser microsurgery

    Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology - Proceedings, vol. 2016-October, pp. 5156-5159
  • 2015
  • Mattos L.iit, Pardo D., Olivieri E., Barresi G.iit, Ortiz J.iit, Fichera L., Deshpande N.iit, Penza V.iit

    Microsurgery Systems

    The E-Medicine, E-Heath, M-Health, Telemedicine, and Telehealth Handbook – Volume II – Telehealth and Mobile Health, Publisher: CRC Press
  • Deshpande N.iit, Mattos L.iit, Caldwell D.iit

    Motorized 2-DOF Spherical Orienting Mechanism for Laser Micromanipulation in Trans-oral Laser Microsurgeries

    The Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics 2015, pp. 25 - 26
  • Deshpande N.iit, Mattos L.S.iit, Caldwell D.G.iit
    DOI

    New motorized micromanipulator for robot-assisted laser phonomicrosurgery

    Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, vol. 2015-June, (no. June), pp. 4755-4760
  • Guastini L., Deshpande N.iit, Mattos L. S.iit, Peretti G.

    Next Generation Robot Enhanced Microsurgical System for Transoral Laser Surgeries

    3rd Congress of European ORL-HNS
  • Deshpande N.iit, Guastini L., Mattos L. S.iit, Peretti G.

    Novel Micromanipulator for Robot-assisted Microsurgical System for Transoral Laser Surgeries

    World Congress on Larynx Cancer
  • Chauhan M., Deshpande N.iit, Mattos L.iit

    Novel modular 2-DOF microsurgical forceps for Trans-oral Laser Microsurgeries

    5th Joint Workshop on New Technologies for Computer/Robot Assisted Surgery, (no. 2015)
  • Guastini L., Deshpande N.iit, Mattos L. S.iit, Mora F., Peretti G.

    Novel Robotic Micromanipulator for Transoral Laser Surgery

    American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation Annual Meeting
  • 2014
  • Mattos L.S.iit, Deshpande N.iit, Barresi G.iit, Guastini L., Peretti G.
    DOI

    A novel computerized surgeon-machine interface for robot-assisted laser phonomicrosurgery

    Laryngoscope, vol. 124, (no. 8), pp. 1887-1894
  • Deshpande N.iit, Ortiz J.iit, Caldwell D.G.iit, Mattos L.S.iit
    DOI

    Enhanced computer-assisted laser microsurgeries with a 'virtual microscope' based surgical system

    Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 4194-4199
  • Deshpande N.iit, Grant E., Draelos M., Henderson T.C.
    DOI

    Received signal strength based bearing-only robot navigation in a sensor network field

    IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 4618-4623
  • Guastini L., Mattos L. S.iit, Deshpande N.iit, Ortiz J., Mora F., Peretti G.

    Redesign of the Microsurgical Interface with a Novel, Computer-Assisted “Virtual Microscope” System in Laser Phonomicrosurgery

    American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation Annual Meeting
  • Deshpande N., Grant E., Henderson T.C.
    DOI

    Target localization and autonomous navigation using wireless sensor networks - A pseudogradient algorithm approach

    IEEE Systems Journal, vol. 8, (no. 1), pp. 93-103
  • 2013
  • Deshpande N.iit, Ortiz J., Mattos L. S.iit, Caldwell D. G.

    A 'Virtual Microscope' Surgeon Interface in Computer-Assisted Laser Microsurgeries

    In Co-SuR Workshop on Cognitive Surgical Robotics: From Virtual Fixtures to Advanced Cooperative Control
  • Barresi G.iit, Mattos L. S.iit, Deshpande N.iit, Brogni A., Caldwell D. G.

    Comparative Ergonomic Evaluation of User Interfaces for Laser Phonomicrosurgery

    Eurosurge Workshop on Evaluating Effectiveness and Acceptance of Robots in Surgery: User-centered Design and Economic Factors
  • Barresi G.iit, Deshpande N.iit, Mattos L.S.iit, Brogni A.iit, Guastini L., Peretti G., Caldwell D.G.iit
    DOI

    Comparative usability and performance evaluation of surgeon interfaces in laser phonomicrosurgery

    IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 3610-3615
  • Deshpande N.iit, Barresi G.iit, Mattos L. S.iit

    Human-factor oriented approach to improve surgeon-machine interface design

    1st Russian-German Conference on Biomedical Engineering
  • Deshpande N.iit, Mattos L.S.iit, Barresi G.iit, Brogni A.iit, Dagnino G.iit, Guastini L., Peretti G., Caldwell D.G.iit
    DOI

    Imaging based metrics for performance assessment in laser phonomicrosurgery

    Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 4850-4856
  • Fichera L., Pardo D., Deshpande N.iit, Mattos L. S.iit

    On-line estimation of ablation depth during CO2-laser exposure

    In Co-SuR Workshop on Cognitive Surgical Robotics: From Virtual Fixtures to Advanced Cooperative Control
  • Barresi G.iit, Deshpande N.iit, Mattos L. S.iit, Guastini L., Peretti G., Caldwell D. G.

    Usability and Performance: Comparative Evaluation of Surgeon Interfaces in Laser Phonomicrosurgery

    3rd Joint Workshop on New Technologies for Computer/Robot Assisted Surgery
  • 2012
  • Roan P., Deshpande N., Wang Y., Pitzer B.
    DOI

    Manipulator state estimation with low cost accelerometers and gyroscopes

    IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 4822-4827
  • Luthy K., Grant E., Deshpande N., Henderson T.C.
    DOI

    Perimeter detection in wireless sensor networks

    Robotics and Autonomous Systems, vol. 60, (no. 2), pp. 266-277
  • Henderson T.C., Cohen E., Joshi A., Grant E., Draelos M., Deshpande N.
    DOI

    Symmetry as a basis for perceptual fusion

    IEEE International Conference on Multisensor Fusion and Integration for Intelligent Systems, pp. 101-107
  • Deshpande N., Grant E., Henderson T.C.
    DOI

    Target-directed navigation using wireless sensor networks and implicit surface interpolation

    Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 457-462
  • Draelos M., Deshpande N.iit, Grant E.
    DOI

    The Kinect up close: Adaptations for short-range imaging

    IEEE International Conference on Multisensor Fusion and Integration for Intelligent Systems, pp. 251-256
  • 2011
  • Henderson T.C., Peng H., Sikorski K., Deshpande N., Grant E.

    Symmetry: A Basis for Sensorimotor Reconstruction

    Technical Report UUCS-11-011, School of Computing, University of Utah
  • Henderson T. C., Peng H., Sikorski K., Deshpande N., Grant E.

    The Cognitive Symmetry Engine: An Active Approach to Knowledge

    Workshop on Knowledge Representation for Autonomous Robots
  • Henderson T. C., Peng H., Deshpande N., Grant E.

    The Role of Symmetry in Structural Bootstrapping

    Bridges between the Methodological and Practical Work of the Robotics and Cognitive Systems Communities - From Sensors to Concepts, Publisher: Springer
  • 2010
  • Deshpande N., Grant E., Henderson T.C.
    DOI

    Experiments with a "pseudo-gradient" algorithm for target localization using wireless sensor networks

    IEEE International Conference on Multisensor Fusion and Integration for Intelligent Systems, pp. 74-79
  • Deshpande N., Grant E.

    WSN-assisted Multi-robot Coordination in Event Response Mechanisms

    Workshop on Smart Sensor Networks and Robotics

Scientific Talks

  • 2019
  • Deshpande N.iit

    Assistive Interfaces for High Precision Surgery

Awards

 

  • Mentored Teaching Assistantship - NCSU - 2011
  • Alumni Graduate Fellowship Award - NCSU - 2005
  • Best Graduate Trainee Award - Rockwell Automation - 2004