How does a spark of an idea become a life-saving medical device? Engineer, inventor and entrepreneur Robert Webster III traces that spark back to his childhood.
He was encouraged to weave both imagination and investigation into his learning.
“Growing up my parents really trained me to be a researcher without even knowing it,” said Webster, senior associate provost for commercialization and technology transfer and head of the Medical Engineering and Discovery Lab.
“I was homeschooled, and my mom and dad empowered me to turn the world into a research problem. They’d say, ‘why don’t you figure out how to do an experiment on this or how would you get more information about that?’” said Webster, who is also the Richard A. Schroeder Professor of Mechanical Engineering, professor of electrical engineering, otolaryngology, neurological surgery, urologic surgery and of medicine.
Webster has greatly advanced surgical robotics with a focus on improving accuracy and reducing invasiveness during procedures.
“In May 2025 we were able to remove 11 tumors out of six patients with bladder cancer. All of the surgeries were completely successful, and all tumors residing in the bladder’s surface layers were entirely removed,” he said.