Larisa Bianca Ionică, a student at the Faculty of Engineering in Galati, designed a software that allows extremely precise eye operations to be performed. The program will be installed on a hydraulic robot, which will perform extremely precise eye operations with a very small margin of error.
The software created by Larisa allows performing eye incisions on small surfaces PHOTO Valentin Trufașu
Larisa Bianca Ionică (23 years old), third-year student at the Faculty of Engineering of the “Dănărea de Jos” University in Galati, specializing in Medical Engineering, created a software that allows extremely precise eye operations to be performed.
The program created by the young woman can be used by ophthalmologists to perform eye incisions without the patient being put at risk by a possible hand tremor or human error.
“The software is designed in such a way that the operation takes place from point A to point B, following certain milestones that will be obtained following an analysis with a microscope. The program will command a robot that is in progress. His movements will be extremely precise,” explained the student for “The Truth”.
Larisa says that the idea came to her after a discussion with a doctor at a specialized course she is taking at university starting with laparoscopy, a minimally invasive surgical method.
An artificial vision program
The young woman is currently working on the robot, which will be hydraulically operated and on which the software created by her will be installed, which will have a margin of error close to zero.
“The operations will be carried out at a distance of approximately one millimeter. As we can easily imagine, the human cannot do such operations with such high precision as that of the hydraulic robot. The software is basically an artificial vision program that recognizes certain elements in an image in which a human eye appears and passes them on to the robot so that the operation can be carried out safely for the patient.”
stated Florin Marin Bogdan, head of works at the Faculty of Engineering in Galati and coordinator of the Student Scientific Circle of Applied Informatics in Materials Engineering, where Larisa also works.
Another advantage of the software created by the Engineering student after almost three months of documentation work is that it can allow eye surgeries to be performed at a distance, in ophthalmic conditions such as cataracts, by ophthalmologists, through what is known in the literature of specialty as “telemedicine”.
The orthosis, the innovation that replaces the orthopedic cast
The young woman is not the first medical innovation. A year ago he created a very special hand orthosis. The orthosis is made with a 3D printer and allows the area where it is attached to be aired, as well as its periodic washing, thus eliminating the main inconveniences of the cast.
As is well known, the cast must be kept in the area where it was placed by the orthopedist for several weeks, during which the skin can no longer breathe and quite serious irritations often occur.
Larisa made the orthosis with a 3D printer PHOTO Valentin Trufașu
What is special is the fact that the orthosis designed by Larisa can effectively mold itself on the patient's arm, after it has previously been heated to 120 degrees Celsius.
The brace stiffens on the hand as it cools and is equipped with several sensors that allow the orthopedist to see how much pressure is being exerted on the arm and whether the traumatized area has been correctly immobilized by it.
It takes the shape of the hand and can be monitored from a distance
“The orthosis has several components, and some of them have to be heated to take the shape of the hand, so they are thermoformable. Before heating, the orthosis has a standard circular shape. The orthotic device will not squeeze the hand it is placed on more than necessary.” explained Larisa for “Adevărul”.
The sensors on the orthosis are programmed by the orthopedist through a computer application, and he can remotely check at any time the pressure of the orthosis on the hand and even if it has moved from the place where it was originally placed.
The material from which the orthosis is made is a special plastic used in the leg protectors of professional skiers to protect them from possible blows.
The exoskeleton that helps you regain the mobility of your hands
Larisa also worked for a while at Liberty Galați, the largest steel plant in Romania, as part of an exchange that she won, where she amazed again. She has single-handedly designed most of a drawbridge to replace a decommissioned bridge.
The Engineering student also worked on an exoskeleton that will allow the user to regain the mobility of their hands by constantly training the muscles, in the medical area, but also to lift heavy weights and move them to various locations, in the industrial area.
After graduation, Larisa plans to work in the area of medical research and create new software and robots to help doctors perform delicate operations on small surfaces that do not allow for a large margin of error.
