{"id":149839,"date":"2025-11-13T11:19:02","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T16:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=149839"},"modified":"2025-11-14T10:16:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T15:16:11","slug":"ucf-students-explore-improving-patient-care-through-ai-robotics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-students-explore-improving-patient-care-through-ai-robotics\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Students Explore Improving Patient Care Through AI, Robotics"},"content":{"rendered":"

UCF computer science<\/a> major Julia Moras knows firsthand about living with epilepsy. Now, through a new interdisciplinary education and research effort, she\u2019s examining through her undergraduate honors thesis how artificial intelligence<\/a> (AI) might help fellow patients better predict an epileptic seizure.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am on the receiving end of care for this disease. I want to be part of improving care for all of us who deal with epilepsy.\u201d \u2014 Julia Moras, student<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Moras is part of new UCF research and educational opportunities created by Laura Brattain, a biomedical engineer by training who is integrating AI, medical ultrasound and surgical robotics to create healthcare innovations that improve patient care.<\/p>\n

As an associate professor at UCF\u2019s College of Medicine<\/a> and a member of UCF\u2019s new Institute of Artificial Intelligence<\/a>, Brattain holds secondary positions in the College of Engineering and Computer Science<\/a>. She is offering a newly revitalized Introduction to Medical Robotics<\/em> course that is part of a new master\u2019s program in robotics and autonomous systems<\/a>. Those educational opportunities are also expanding research opportunities.<\/p>\n

During a recent gathering, Brattain and her students \u2014 UCF undergraduates, master’s and doctoral candidates \u2014 demonstrated the promise AI and medical robotics have for patient care.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy hope is that students come away from this course with not only a solid understanding of how robotics and AI are transforming medicine, but also a sense of creativity and purpose \u2014 seeing themselves as future innovators who can bridge engineering and healthcare<\/a> to improve patient outcomes,\u201d Brattain says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the advances in AI and hardware acceleration, medical robotics is going to be one of the next frontiers in healthcare innovation.\u201d \u2014 Laura Brattain, associate professor<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Promise of Technology<\/h2>\n

As part of the new class, students are using AI to program a small medical robot to recognize anatomical structures in medical images. For example, the robot\u2019s probe can recognize the difference between soft tissue and bone in the human body. With the probe, you can feel the softness of human tissue and the hardness of bone as the probe enters each.<\/p>\n

Such robots could provide needed care in rural and isolated areas, Brattain explains. A surgeon miles or even countries away could direct the robot with his or her hands to perform surgery.<\/p>\n

M. Iffat Hossain is a UCF graduate student studying computer engineering<\/a>. He says Brattain\u2019s class has opened his eyes to ways engineers and physicians can work together.<\/p>\n

In another lab, UCF students and Brattain show the use of ultrasound technology to improve care. There, they are programming a small, handheld ultrasound machine that can provide medical imaging rather than rely on the large ultrasound machines used in hospital and established clinical settings.<\/p>\n