Dr Thanh Nho Do
Dr Thanh Nho Do is currently a Scientia Senior Lecturer at Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering (GSBmE), University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney. He directs UNSW Medical Robotics Lab. In 2015, he was awarded his PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering (Surgical Robotics) from the School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He also received his B. Eng. degree in Manufacturing Engineering with Honor Program from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, Vietnam. He was a Postdoctoral Scholar at California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI), UC Santa Barbara (UCSB), USA. He also worked as a Research Fellow and a Group Leader at Robotic Research Center, School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.
His main research interests include:
- Flexible surgical devices, especially Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) systems, for gastrointestinal cancer treatments
- Soft robotics including stretchable sensors and actuators for haptic/tactile displays and their applications to other robotic systems
- Soft assistive device for heart failure and soft artificial organs
- Soft Wearable Haptic Devices
- Functional materials for soft electronics and biomedical applications
- Variable stiffness structures for flexible endoscopic systems, soft robotics and other biomedical applications
- Miniature soft magnetic robots for drug delivery systems
- Soft magnetic capsule endoscopy for obesity treatments and gastrointestinal diagnosis
- Soft pneumatic/hydraulic actuators
- Soft programmable planar fabric actuators
- Advanced wearable systems for haptic/tactile displays and NOTES systems
- Advanced mechatronic systems for the treatment of tracheal diseases and other respiratory disorders
- Nonlinear backlash/hysteresis modeling and identification methods
- Advanced control algorithms (feedforward and nonlinear adaptive control) for flexible medical systems and smart materials and structures
Editorial Activities:
- Editor-Nature Communications Engineering
- Guest Editor-Sensors, Special Issues "Soft Sensors, Actuators and Sensing Technology for Medical Applications"
- Guest Editor-Micromachines, Special Issues "Soft Robotics: Design, Fabrication, Modeling, Control and Applications"
- Topic Editor-Frontiers in Medical Technology-Diagnostic and Therapeutic Devices, Research Topic "Wearable Soft Robotics in Diagnostics and Therapeutics"
Lab Members and Research Activities:
Please visit UNSW Medical Robotics Lab
Dr. Do is currently looking for undergraduate and postgraduate students to join his research group starting 2025. The research projects include
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Project 1: The design, fabrication, modeling, control of novel soft artificial organs using soft robotic technologies (soft sensors and actuators)
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Project 2: The development of flexible surgical surgical robotics for gastrointestinal cancer treatments,
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Project 3: Soft wearable haptic devices for VR/AR and medical applications
- Project 4: Soft wearable assistive device for human augmentation
Prospective students with background in mechanical design, mechatronics, robotics, control systems, and soft materials with good hands-on skills please feel free to contact Dr. Do to discuss desired projects. Please also include CV and transcript together with names and contacts of at least two academic referees.
There are several scholarships available for both domestic and international students. Please follow the below links for deadlines and other information:
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Determine Your Eligibility for a Scholarship: https://selfassessment.research.unsw.edu.au/
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Meet English requirement: https://www.unsw.edu.au/english-requirements-policy
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Key-dates: https://research.unsw.edu.au/key-dates
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UNSW Post Graduate Research Scholarship for International Students,
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UNSW Post Graduate Research Scholarship for Domestic Students
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Australia Awards and Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships
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UNSW/Home Country Joint Scholarship
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Vietnam-Vingroup Scholarships (for Vietnamese candidates)
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
- 2025-2030: NHMRC Ideas Grant (Lead CI)
- 2025-2028: Cancer Institute NSW Career Development Fellowship (Sole CI)
- 2025-2028: NSW Cardiovascular Early-Mid Career Researcher Grant (Sole CI)
- 2025-2026: GLOBAL RESEARCH AND IMPACT PROGRAM Grant (Lead CI)
- 2024: UNSW Research Infrastructure Scheme 2024 (Lead CI)
- 2024: UNSW minor equipment grant (Lead CI)
- 2024-2026: 3Rs Grant (Lead CI)
- 2023: GROW Early Career Academics Grant (Sole CI)
- 2023: Faculty of Engineering Goldstar Award Grant (Lead CI)
- 2023-2027: ARC Discovery Project (Co-CI)
- 2022-2026: UNSW Scientia Grant (Sole CI)
- 2022-2032: Google Research Program Project (Sole CI)
- 2022: GROW Early Career Academics Grant (Lead CI)
- 2021-2027: ARC Research Hub for Connected Sensors for Health (Co-CI)
- 2021-2024: Vanguard Grant, Heart Foundation fo Australia (Lead CI)
- 2021-2022: 2021 Technology Research Grants, Intuitive Surgical, USA (Lead CI)
- 2021: The Frontiers Technology Clinical Academic Group 2020 Grant (Lead CI)
- 2021: UNSW minor equipment grant (Lead CI)
- 2020: UNSW Research Infrastructure Scheme 2018 (Lead CI)
- 2020: UNSW Research Infrastructure Scheme 2020 (Lead CI)
- 2018-2022: UNSW Start-Up Grant (Sole CI)
- 2018-2022: UNSW Scientia Grant (Sole CI)
- 2018: UNSW minor equipment grant (Lead CI)
- 2018-present: (Sole CI or Co-CI) Generous Supports from the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Egnineering, and University of New South Wales etc.
- 2025: CINSW Career Development Fellow
- 2024: UNSW GRIP Award
- 2024: World Top 2% Scientist, Stanford University
- 2024: Best Poster Award, IROS 2024
- 2024: NSW Young Tall Poppy Science Award
- 2024: NSW Cardiovascular Research Network (CVRN) Professional Development Award
- 2024: Top 4 Robots of the Year 2023 by Thomson Reuters
- 2023: 2x Finalist Poster Awards, EMBC 2023
- 2023: Best Poster Award, EMBC 2023
- 2023: Best Poster Award, ICRA 2023
- 2023: Top 100 in Engineering Scientific Reports
- 2023 UNSW Faculty of Engineering Goldstar Award
- 2022 Google Research Scholar Award
- 2022 NSW Cardiovascular Research Network (CVRN) Professional Development Award
- 2021 Arc PGC Outstanding Supervisor Award
- 2020 The Best of Advanced Materials Technologies