December 2020: PhD student Muhammad Rehan’s current project is highlighted in VetScript magazine (the New Zealand Veterinary Association’s publication).
November 2020: Ebu has been invited to serve as a topic editor for “micromachines” journal.
October 2020: PhD student Kate Andrew gives us her scientific take on Octiron from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series via RadioNZ Nights’ Materials: Fact or Fiction.
September 2020: PhD student Muhammad Rehan, who is working on the capsule robot project for gut microbiota sampling, won the 2020 3MT competition organized by the Graduate Research School, Massey University. Rehan also won the people’s choice award based on the online voting by the PhD students through stream. He won 1000 NZD prize money for the first place (judges’ vote) and another 250 NZD for the people’s choice award. Rehan had represented Massey University in the Asia-Pacific 3MT competition, in which 54 universities from Asia and Pacific region participated. Well done Rehan!
August 2020: PhD student Kate Andrew received the runner-up award for her “laser-enabled microrobots” presentation during the 2020 IEEE NZ Central Section Postgraduate Symposium at Victoria University of Wellington. Competition included 27 postgraduate students from VUW, Otago and Massey. Well done Kate!
July 2020: Undergraduate researchers Andrew, Sid and Nick took part in the Undergraduate Student Mechatronics Design Competition that is part of the 2020 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM 2020). Their project was “Piezoelectric Device for Inducing Strain on Cell Samples”. They obtained the first place with a certificate and USD 800. Well done Gentlemen!
July 2020: We have a new paper “Capsule Robot for Gut Microbiota Sampling using Shape Memory Alloy Spring” that is published by the International Journal of Medical Robotics and Computer Assisted Surgery – Wiley.
April 2020: Undergraduate researchers Sid and Nick obtained $10k scholarship from Ken and Elizabeth Powell Bursary. This scholarship is given to the exceptional students who contribute to the advancement of technology.
February 2020: The Avci research group receives a KiwiNet Emerging Innovator Award ($20k) research sponsorship from the KiwiNet (Kiwi Innovation Network) New Zealand to develop capsule robots.
February 2020: We have a new review paper with a title “Optical Micromachines for Biological Studies” that published in Micromachines.
January 2020: Ebu is invited to serve as a Program Committee Member for The 7th International Conference on Advanced Mechatronics (JSME-ICAM 2020), Japan.
January 2020: We have a new paper published on the development of a “micromanipulator for parasite isolation task” in Micromachines.