Welcome! I am an Assistant Professor of Robotics at WPI, where I direct the Cognitive Medical Technology and Robotics Lab.


In the past I was a postdoc at Vanderbilt University. I did my PhD at the Italian Institute of Technology. See my full CV here


Areas of research:
  • Computer/robot-assisted surgery
  • Continuum robots
  • Artificial intelligence and machine learning
 

Welcome! I am an Assistant Professor with the Robotics Engineering Program and the Department of Computer Science at WPI.


In the past I was a postdoc at Vanderbilt University. I did my PhD at the Italian Institute of Technology. See my full CV here


Areas of research:
  • Computer/robot-assisted surgery
  • Continuum robots
  • Artificial intelligence and machine learning
For more information, please see my research page.

News

  • Mar 4, 2019 - I have been invited to give a talk in May at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. The talk is entitled "Combining robotics and AI to enable advanced treatment modalities in the head and neck."

  • Feb 8, 2019 - Our paper Towards flexible steerable instruments for office-based laryngeal surgery. was selected as one of the best 10 papers that describe new medical devices at DMD 2019, and chosen to participate in the Three in Five pitch competition!

  • July 1, 2018 - Alex Chiluisa has accepted an offer to join the COMET lab as a PhD student starting in the fall of this year. Welcome Alex!

  • Mar 9, 2018 - I have been invited to give a talk at the University of New Hampshire. The talk is entitled "Rise of the machines in the Operating Room: Using AI to build smarter, more dexterous surgical robots."

  • Feb 19, 2018 - I have been awarded two seed grant proposals from WPI to develop new technologies for laser surgery! The two proposals were written in collaboration with Prof. Andrea Arnold (Dept. of Mathematical Sciences) and Prof. Cosme Furlong (Ctr. for Holographic Studies and Laser micro-mechaTronics).

  • Aug 14, 2017 - I have started my new position at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA.

Recent Publications

  • O'Brien K, Boyer ZR, Brolliar CT, Mart BG, Carroll TL, Fichera L.
    Towards flexible steerable instruments for office-based laryngeal surgery. Design of Medical Devices Conference 2019.

  • Vu M, Banalagay RA, Zhang D, Rivas A, Fichera L, Webster R, Labadie RF, Noble JH.
    Analysis of middle ear morphology for design of a transnasal endoscope. SPIE Medical Imaging 2019.

  • Fichera L, Dillon NP, Zhang D, Godage IS, Siebold MA, Hartley BI, Noble JH, Russell PT, Labadie RF, Webster RJ.
    Through the Eustachian Tube and Beyond: A New Miniature Robotic Endoscope to See Into the Middle Ear. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 2017 Jul;2(3):1488-94.

  • Fichera L, Messina F, Pappalardo G, Santoro C.
    A Python framework for programming autonomous robots using a declarative approach. Science of Computer Programming. 2017 Jun 1;139:36-55.

  • Kesler K, Dillon NP, Fichera L, Labadie RF.
    Human Kinematics of Cochlear Implant Surgery: An Investigation of Insertion Micro-Motions and Speed Limitations. Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery. 2017 May 1:0194599817704391.

  • Dillon NP, Fichera L, Kesler K, Zuniga MG, Mitchell JE, Webster RJ, Labadie RF.
    Pre-operative Screening and Manual Drilling Strategies to Reduce the Risk of Thermal Injury During Minimally Invasive Cochlear Implantation Surgery. Annals of Biomedical Engineering. 2017 May 18:1-2.

  • Acemoglu A, Fichera L, Kepiro IE, Caldwell DG, Mattos LS.
    Laser Incision Depth Control in Robot-Assisted Soft Tissue Microsurgery. J Med Robot Res. 2017 Mar 27:1740006.

See full list on Google Scholar »