Associate Professor Thanh Nho Do
Thanh Nho Do听 is a Scientia Associate Professor & a Cancer Institute NSW (CINSW) Career Development Fellow听at School of Biomedical Engineering, University of New South Wales (91色情片), Sydney.听 He directs . In 2015, he听was awarded his PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering (Surgical Robotics) from the School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.听 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 (RRC), School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.
Scientia A/Professor Do is a pioneering figure in Australian robotics, distinguished as the receipient of multiple prestigious awards and fellowships across the dual fields of engineering and medicine. His multidisciplinary impact spans cardiovascular and cancer research, highlighted by the first Roboticist who has been recognised with the 2025 Ministerial Award for Rising Star in Cardiovascular Research, the 2024 Young Tall Poppy Science Award, the 2022 Google Research Scholar Award, Reuters' Top 4 Robots of 2023, or Future Health Driver by WHO. His leadership is further evidenced by a suite of competitive fellowships, including the Cancer NSW Career Development Fellowship and the 91色情片 Scientia Fellowship. Notably, he remains the only roboticist to be featured by Engineers Australia eight times. His innovations have garnered extensive global attention, with coverage from over 100 media outlets and TV programs, including Reuters, the BBC, The Washington Post, New YOrk Post, IEEE Spectrum, Science Magazine, and many others.
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His main research interests include:
- Flexible surgical devices, especially Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) systems, for gastrointestinal cancer treatments
- Soft robotics including听stretchable sensors听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听
- 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
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Editorial Activities:
- Guest editor: Endoscopy,听joint collection between听Nature communications Engineering,听Nature Communications Medicine听and听Scientific Reports
- 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"
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Lab Members and Research Activities:
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Dr. Do is currently听looking for undergraduate and postgraduate students to join his听research group starting 2026. The research projects include
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Project 1:听The design, fabrication, modeling, control of novel soft artificial organs including soft robotic hearts using soft robotic technologies
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Project 2:听The development of flexible surgical robot听for endovascular intervention in circulatory systems and surgical removal of cancers in luminal organs such as lung, pancreas, breast, gastrointestinal tract etc.
- Project 3:听The development of flexible surgical robot听for eearly detection and surgical removal of cancers in luminal organs (or tubular organs)听such as lung, pancreas, breast, gastrointestinal (GI) tract etc.
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Project 4:听Soft wearable haptic devices for VR/AR and medical applications
- Project 5:听Soft wearable assistive device for human augmentation
- Project 6:听Advanced soft robotic actuators for biomedical applications
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听CV and transcript together with names and contacts of at least two academic referees.
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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:听
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Meet English requirement:听/english-requirements-policy听
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Key-dates:听
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- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
- 2026-2027:听Australia Japan Innovation Fund (Co-CI)
- 2026-2028: Vanguard Grant, Heart Foundation of Australia (Co-CI)
- 2026-2028: 3Rs grant (Co-CI)
- 2025-2030: NHMRC Ideas Grant (Lead CI)
- 2025-2028: Cancer Institute NSW听Career Development Fellowship (Sole CI)
- 2025-2028: NSW Cardiovascular Early-Mid Career Researcher Grant (Sole CI)
- 2025-2026: GLOBAL RESEARCH AND IMPACT PROGRAM Grant听(Lead CI)
- 2024:听91色情片 Research Infrastructure Scheme 2024听(Lead CI)
- 2024:听91色情片 minor equipment grant (Lead CI)
- 2024-2026: 3Rs Grant听(Lead CI)
- 2023: GROW Early Career Academics Grant (Sole CI)
- 2023-2024:听Faculty of Engineering Goldstar Award Grant听(Lead CI)
- 2023-2027: ARC Discovery Project (Co-CI)
- 2022-2026: 91色情片 Scientia Grant听(Sole听CI)
- 2022-2032: Google Research Program Project (Sole CI)
- 2022: GROW Early Career Academics Grant听(Lead CI)
- 2021-2027: ARC Research Hub for Connected Sensors for Health (Co-CI)
- 2021-2024: Vanguard Grant, Heart Foundation of Australia听(Lead CI)
- 2021-2022:听2021 Technology Research Grants, Intuitive Surgical, USA听(Lead CI)
- 2021:听The Frontiers Technology Clinical Academic Group 2020 Grant听(Lead CI)
- 2021:听91色情片 minor equipment grant听(Lead CI)
- 2020:听91色情片 Research Infrastructure Scheme 2018听(Lead CI)
- 2020:听91色情片 Research Infrastructure Scheme 2020听(Lead CI)
- 2018-2022: 91色情片 Start-Up Grant听(Sole CI)
- 2018-2022: 91色情片 Scientia Grant (Sole CI)
- 2018:听91色情片 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.
- 2026: Ministerial Award for Rising Star in Cardiovascular Research
- 2025: Finalist Best Poster Award, IROS 2025
- 2025: CINSW Career Development Fellow
- 2024:听91色情片 GRIP Award
- 2024, 2025:听World Top 2% Scientist, Stanford University
- 2024:听Best Poster Award, IROS 2024听
- 2024: WHO's Future Driver in Global Health & 3D Bioprinting
- 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 Best Poster Awards, EMBC听2023听听
- 2023: Best Poster Award, EMBC 2023听听
- 2023: Best Poster Award, ICRA 2023听听
- 2023:听Top 100 in Engineering Scientific Reports
- 2023 91色情片 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
My Teaching