photo by Ryan Hoover / UW ECE

Overview

UW’s Robotics and Controls researchers are leaders in the areas of surgical and bio-robotics, haptics, smart cities, and network control systems. They collaborate with and hold secondary appointments in computer science and engineering, bioengineering, and the UW Medical Center, and are active participants in research centers such as the Center for Neurotechnology.

Topics

Surgical and Bio-Robotics:

Tactile sensing, biomechanics, biomedical modeling and surgical planning.
Faculty: Blake Hannaford, Samuel Burden

Smart Cities:

Cloud-based systems, network of sensors, RFIDs, spectrum development and testing.
Faculty: Lillian Ratliff, Linda Bushnell, Baosen Zhang, Maryam Faze l, Akshay Gadre

Haptics:

Telerobotics, virtual reality, mobile device interface and remote surgery.
Faculty: Blake Hannaford

Network Control Systems:

Communication networks, sensors, command controllers, drones, developing-world applications.
Faculty: Radha Poovendran, Linda Bushnell

Latest News

Elevating emerging engineers

The UW College of Engineering's Industry Capstone Program partners UW ECE students with sponsor organizations to devise innovative solutions to real-world problems.

Two student speakers selected for UW ECE Graduation

UW ECE is proud to announce that Khushbu Patel (MSECE ‘26) and Kathryn Fehme (BSECE ‘26) have been selected to speak at this year's Graduation Ceremony.

Akira Ishimaru — A lifetime dedicated to engineering

UW ECE Professor Emeritus Akira Ishimaru spent 73 years at UW ECE focused on learning. His talent and hard work led to important contributions in the study of electromagnetic wave propagation, launched the careers of many of his students, and laid a foundation for the advanced technologies we rely on today.

Jared K. Jordan of Capital One to speak at UW ECE Graduation

UW ECE is proud to announce that alumnus Jared K. Jordan (BSEE ‘05) will serve as honored guest speaker for the UW ECE 2026 Graduation Ceremony. Jordan is a managing vice president at Capital One, a leading financial services corporation, and serves as head of Capital One Garage, the company’s innovation accelerator.

UW research team applies game theory to create a new framework for neural interface design

A research team led by UW ECE professors Amy Orsborn and Sam Burden has used game theory to create a new computational framework for neural interfaces that can adapt to the user — offering a new approach to improving human-machine interaction.

A smart glove with its own sense of touch

UW ECE doctoral student Devin Murphy, working in the lab of Assistant Professor Yiyue Luo and collaborating with MIT, has created OpenTouch Glove — a cost-effective, accessible, tactile sensing glove based on flexible printed circuit board technology.

Robotics and Controls