Last update: Jul 03, 2009
Contact

Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems
Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering
ETH Zürich
Tannenstrasse 3
CLA H 11.1
8092 Zürich, Switzerland

Phone: +41 44 632 35 84
Fax:     +41 44 632 10 78
eMail:  
web1:   http://www.iris.mavt.ethz.ch/msrl
web2:   http://www.zoltan-nagy.net

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Research

Research Projects

[...] it would be interesting in surgery if you could swallow the surgeon. You put the mechanical surgeon inside the blood vessel and it goes into the heart and looks around.
[...] How do we make such a tiny mechanism? I leave that to you.

- Richard Feynman, There's plenty of room at the bottom, 1959.

Assembling Reconfigurable Endoluminal Surgical (ARES) System

We are developing a modular robotic system that can be swallowed and will assemble inside the G.I. Tract for therapeutic and diagnostic procedures. ETH Zürich is one of four European universities participating in this project, led by Paolo Dario at Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna.

My research involves the investigation of the self-assembly of the ARES robot inside the stomach. Using a specific magnet configuration on the connection face, assembly success rates of up to 90% are possible.

Intraocular Microrobots and Control Using Field Gradients

This project aims at developing magnetic microrobotics for ophtalmic surgery.

I am involved in developing the magnetic model for assembled-MEMS microrobots. The model is validated through FEM simulations and experiments, and captures the characteristics of complex 3-D structures. It allows us, for the first time, to consider full 6-DOF control of untethered devices.


The Swiss French Television (TSR, Nouvo, Dec.5, 2008) reported on both projects:

A German (SF1, Einstein, Feb.5, 2009) version is also available.

CV

Publications

Journals and Magazines

S. Miyashita, Z. Nagy, B. J. Nelson, and R. Pfeifer, The Influence of Shape on Parallel Self-Assembly, submitted for review

Z. Nagy, K. Harada, M. Fluckiger, E. Susilo, I. K. Kaliakatsos, A. Menciassi, E. Hawkes, J. J. Abbott, P. Dario, and B. J. Nelson, Assembling Reconfigurable Endoluminal Surgical Systems: Opportunities and Challenges, accepted for publication in a special issue of IJBBR

M. Probst et al, Manufacturing of a Hybrid Acoustic Transmitter Using an Advanced Microassembly System, accepted for publication in IEEE. Trans.Indust. Electronics

M. Flueckiger, Z. Nagy, et al., A Microfabricated and Microassembled Wireless Resonator, accepted for publication in Sensors & Actuators A: Physical

F. Beyeler, S. Muntwyler, Z. Nagy, C. Graetzel, M. Moser and B.J. Nelson, Design and calibration of a MEMS sensor for measuring the force and torque acting on a magnetic microrobot, J. Micromech. Microeng. (18) 025004 (7pp), 2008
doi: 10.1088/0960-1317/18/2/025004

J. J. Abbott, Z. Nagy, F. Beyeler, B. J. Nelson, Robotics in the Small, Part I: Microrobotics, IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, Vol. 14, No. 2, 2007, pp. 92-103
doi: 10.1109/MRA.2007.380641

International Refereed Conferences

Z. Nagy, S. Miyashita, S. Muntwyler, A.K. Cherukuri, J.J. Abbott, R. Pfeiffer, and B.J. Nelson, Morphology Detection for Magnetically Self-Assembled Modular Robots, in Proc. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2009, St. Louis, MO, USA

Z. Nagy, M. Flueckiger, O. Ergeneman, S. Pane, M. Probst and B.J. Nelson, A Wireless Acoustic Emitter for Passive Localization in Liquids, in Proc. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2009, Kobe, Japan

Z. Nagy, R. Oung, J. J. Abbott, and B. J. Nelson, Experimental Investigation of Magnetic Self-Assembly for Swallowable Modular Robots, in Proc. IEEE/RJS International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2008, Nice, France
doi: 10.1109/IROS.2008.4650662

Z. Nagy, O. Ergeneman, J. J. Abbott, M. Hutter, A. M. Hirt, and B. J. Nelson, Modeling Assembled-MEMS Microrobots for Wireless Magnetic Control, in Proc. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2008, Pasadena, CA, USA
doi: 10.1109/ROBOT.2008.4543315

F. Beyeler, S. Muntwyler, Z. Nagy, M. Moser, and B.J. Nelson, A Multi-Axis MEMS Force-Torque Sensor for Measuring the Load on a Microrobot Actuated by Magnetic Fields, in Proc. IEEE/RJS International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2007, St. Diego, CA, USA
doi: 10.1109/IROS.2007.4399004

Z. Nagy, J. J. Abbott, and B. J. Nelson, The Magnetic Self-Aligning Hermaphroditic Connector: A Scalable Approach for Modular Microrobots, in Proc. IEEE/ASME Int. Conf. Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics, 2007, Zurich, Switzerland
doi: 10.1109/AIM.2007.4412519

In Preparation

Z. Nagy, O. Ergeneman, J. J. Abbott, M. Hutter, A. M. Hirt, and B. J. Nelson, Modeling Assembled-MEMS Devices for Wireless Magnetic Manipulation, in prep. for journal submission

Media Coverage

Print and Internet

TV and Radio

Professional Activities

Student member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

Technical Reviews

  • IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics
  • Robotica
  • Tribology Letters
  • IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
  • IEEE/RJS International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
  • IEEE International Conference on Biorobotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob)

Other Activities

  • Session Chair, IEEE/RJS International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)

Teaching

Lectures

Semester Course Duties Students
Fall'06, '07, '08 Introduction to Robotics and Mechatronics Supervision of weekly laboratory sessions and exam grading ~70
Fall'07, '08 Theory of Robotics and Mechatronics Exam grading ~40
Spring'08 Microrobotics Prepared and gave lectures and assignments on magnetism ~30

Student Project Supervision

  • Bachelor/Semester Theses: Ashish Cherukuri'09, Ciril Baselgia'09, Marco Hutter'07
  • Master/Dimploma Theses: Raymond Oung'08
  • Studies on Mechatronics: Heinrich Meier'08, Ivo Leibacher'07, Gregory Hitz'07, Raymond Oung'07
  • Internships: Elliot Hawkes'08, Christina Haupt'08

Education

ETH Zürich since 2006 Ph. D. Student - Advisor: Prof. Brad Nelson
ETH Zürich 2001-2006 Dipl.-Ing (M.S.) Mechanical Engineering - Advisors: Dr. Jake Abbott and Prof. Brad Nelson
Sensirion AG 07/2005-10/2005 Internship (Micro Flow Sensors)
DTU Copenhagen Spring'05 Academic Exchange Semester (ERASMUS Scholarship)

Software

Mathematical Modeling MATLAB/Simulink, Mathematica
Numerical Analysis (FEM) ANSYS, COMSOL Multiphysics (FEMLAB), Maxwell-3D
Computer Aided Design (CAD) Unigraphics NX, SolidWorks,
Programming and OS C/C++, PHP/MySQL, Windows, Linux
Documentation and Design MS Office, Latex, Adobe Illustrator & InDesign

Varia

  • Co-Founder of FemtoTools GmbH: FemtoTools designs and fabricates high quality measurement and handling instruments for research and development in the micro and nanodomain.
  • Head of SiROP ETH: SiROP provides a multifunctional web platform with standardised procedures to post, search, and manage projects while using a common browser.
Wise Words
You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.

- Albert Einstein