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Dr. Kourosh Zareinia

Kourosh Zareinia
Assistant Professor
BSc, MSc, PhD, PEng
EPH-305
416-979-5000 ext. 557688

Areas of Academic Interest

Haptics

Telerobotics

Surgical robotics

Virtual fixtures

Smart surgical tools

Haptic hand controllers

Education

Year University Degree
2012 University of Manitoba PhD
1997 University of Tehran MSc
1994 Isfahan University of Technology BSc

Selected Courses

Course Code Course
MEC 411 Mechanics of Machines
ME8130 Robotics

Spotlight

Growing up, Kourosh Zareinia was always interested in machines that make our lives better. That interest led him to a career designing and developing robotic systems for a variety of medical applications, such as brain surgery, cognitive and physical rehabilitation, and the micromanipulation and microinjection of cells. 

While improving people’s health is his number 1 goal, Zareinia is also motivated by the economic reality of an aging population drawing more and more on our health care system. For a solution, he looks to robotics. “Long term, robotics can both reduce health-care costs and improve the quality of care by standardizing medical methods and treatments,” he says. For example, in neurosurgery, the use of a haptic hand controller (a type of human-machine interface) can decrease surgeon training time while increasing accuracy and patient safety.

Currently, advancements in surgical technology lag behind other fields, says Zareinia. “By partnering with medical experts, I can help bring surgical technology and methods up to date to improve lives now and in the future.”

Kourosh Zareinia

“I believe the main purpose of being an engineer is to help people.”

  • Zareinia, K., Maddahi, Y., Gan, L.S., Ghasemloonia, A., Lama, S., Sugiyama, T., Yang, F.W., and Sutherland, G.R. “A Force-sensing Bipolar Forceps to Quantify Tool-tissue Interaction Forces in Microsurgery.” IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, vol. 21, no. 5, 2016, pp. 2365-2376.
  • Zareinia, K., and Sepehri, N. “A Hybrid Haptic Sensation for Teleoperation of Hydraulic Manipulators.” ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control, vol. 137, no. 9, 2015, pp. 13.
  • Zareinia, K., Maddahi, Y., Ng, C., Sepehri, N., and Sutherland, G.R. “Performance Evaluation of Haptic Hand-controllers in a Robot-assisted Surgical System.” International Journal of Medical Robotics and Computer Assisted Surgery, vol. 11, no. 4, 2015, pp. 486-501.
  • Zareinia, K., Maddahi, Y., Sepehri, N., Olson, T., and Mueller, W. “Unilateral Control of Teleoperated Hydraulic Manipulators for Live-line Maintenance: Comparative Study.” International Journal of Robotics and Automation, vol. 29, no. 2, 2014, pp. 3872-3912.
  • Sugiyama, T., Lama, S., Gan, L.S., Maddahi, Y., Zareinia, K., and Sutherland, G.R. “Forces of Tool-tissue Interaction to Assess Surgical Skill Level,” JAMA Surgery, vol. 153, no. 3, 2017, pp. 234-242.