Robert Webster

Surgeons at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) have successfully completed the first-in-human clinical trial of a surgical robotic device developed by a Vanderbilt engineer to advance precision and control when removing kidney stones. The device is the first-known independently steerable kidney stone retrieval device, enabling more effective maneuvering… Read More

Robert Webster (Vanderbilt University) Vanderbilt University’s Robert Webster and Charleson Bell, BE’07, MS’09, PhD’15, will receive $12 million to establish and manage the Mid-South Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub. REACH will focus on accelerating real-world impact of biomedical innovations… Read More

Robert J. Webster III, Richard A. Schroeder Professor of Mechanical Engineering and associate professor of medicine and urology at Vanderbilt University, is part of a collaborative team that has received a more than $2.3 million grant to further develop technology that seeks to prevent patients from having invasive colectomies by… Read More

Researchers at the Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering have developed a minuscule robot that could revolutionize surgical procedures for treating prostate cancer, which affects one in nine men in the United States. Using a lifelike model, the team demonstrated that the surgical robot could not only remove the… Read More

As COVID-19 continues to push unprecedented challenges on medical communities, one of the most pressing threats for hospital staff across the country is a dwindling supply of ventilators. Now, an interdisciplinary team of Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center faculty is taking on the challenge… Read More

Robert J. Webster III, Richard A. Schroeder Professor of Engineering, has been selected to serve on a Subcommittee for International Research and Engagement established by the Vanderbilt University Research Council to provide governance for the TIPs-funded GlobalVU initiative. The GlobalVU initiative aims to improve international research and… Read More

Robert Webster III, the Richard A. Schroeder Professor of Mechanical Engineering (left) and Dr. Duke Herrell, a urologic surgeon at VUMC, aim to make prostate surgery less invasive with a small endoscopic robotic system (Photo courtesy VUMC) Vanderbilt collaborators focused on minimally invasive prostate surgery are developing an endoscopic robotic… Read More

School of Engineering faculty will lead two of the five newest University Courses, which are designed to promote new and creative trans-institutional teaching and learning and advance Vanderbilt’s mission. The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be taught by Doug Fisher, associate professor of computer science and associate professor of… Read More

What started as graduate school research with steerable needles in blocks of gelatin could help pulmonologists more accurately reach sites in the peripheral lung to biopsy them. A collaboration between that doctoral student – now Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Robert Webster; Dr. Fabien Maldonado a pulmonologist at Vanderbilt University… Read More

From the left, Associate Professor Robert Webster III, Dr. S. Duke Herrell and Harvey Branscomb Professor Michael Miga, lead a VISE team developing an image guidance interface for robotic surgery systems. (Anne Rayner/Vanderbilt) A Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering (VISE) team is developing an image guidance interface for the… Read More