Dr Dana D. Damian

PhD

Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering

Senior Lecturer

Dana Damian
Profile picture of Dana Damian
d.damian@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 5632

Full contact details

Dr Dana D. Damian
Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering
Amy Johnson Building
Portobello Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
Profile

Dana D. Damian received her diploma in computer science and engineering from the Technical University Timisoara, Romania in 2007. In the same year she joined the Intelligent Systems Laboratory at University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, to work on her diploma thesis with Prof. Nicu Sebe and Prof. Mihai Micea. At the end of 2007, she became a PhD candidate at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland under the supervision of Prof. Rolf Pfeifer.

In 2011 she was a Visiting Scholar for one year at the Haptics Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, US and at the Collaborative Haptics in Robotics and Medicine, Stanford University, U.S.A. working with Prof. Allison Okamura. In 2012 she was a Visiting Scholar at the Soft Machines Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University, U.S.A., working with Prof. Carmel Majidi. From 2013 to 2015, she was a postdoctoral research fellow at Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard University, Boston, USA, working with Prof. Pierre Dupont in the Pediatric Cardiac Bioengineering Laboratory. Since 2011, she is also a founder of the Private Library "Damian" in Romania.

Research interests

Develop bionic and assistive robots that show life-like behavior and sustained operation in order to achieve long-term adaptive healthcare. My approach in tackling this challenge is to exploit the computational interplay between material structures and mechanics. This research resides at the intersection between soft robotics, embodied artificial intelligence and bioengineering. Some of my work includes robotic implants, prosthetic wearables (tactile sensors and haptic devices), and plant prostheses.

Publications

Edited books

Journal articles

Chapters

Conference proceedings papers

  • Thanarak J, Damian D, Claeyssens F & Green N (2023) OPTIMISING THE FABRICATION, SURFACE TREATMENT AND MECHANICAL STIMULATION TO IMPROVE THE CELL PROLIFERATION AND COLLAGEN PRODUCTION FROM PRIMARY DERMAL FIBROBLASTS IN VITRO. TISSUE ENGINEERING PART A, Vol. 29(11-12) (pp 1150-1151) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Jones J & Damian DD (2022) A Soft Fluidic Sensor-Actuator for Active Sensing of Force and Displacement in Biomedical Applications. 2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 23 October 2022 - 27 October 2022. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Liu J, Chen X, Lahondes Q, Esendag K, Damian D & Miyashita S (2022) Origami Robot Self-folding by Magnetic Induction. 2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 23 October 2022 - 27 October 2022. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Duffield C, Smith AF, Rus D, Damian D & Miyashita S (2022) Wirelessly Magnetically Actuated Motor for Tissue Regeneration Robotic Implant. 2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 23 October 2022 - 27 October 2022. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Pontin M, Miyashita S & Damian DD (2022) Development and Characterization of a Soft Valve for Automatic Fault Isolation in Inflatable Soft Robots. 2022 IEEE 5th International Conference on Soft Robotics, RoboSoft 2022 (pp 62-67) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Jones J, Perez Guagnelli ER, Gillett Z & Damian D (2020) Resistance Tuning of Soft Strain Sensor based on Saline Concentration and Volume Changes. Toward Autonomous Robotic Systems RIS download Bibtex download
  • Jones J, Gillett Z, Perez Guagnelli ER & Damian D (2020) Resistance Tuning of Soft Strain Sensor based on Saline Concentration and Volume Changes. 2020 Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems Conference RIS download Bibtex download
  • Perez-Guagnelli E, Jones J & Damian DD (2019) Evaluation of a soft helical actuator performance with hard and soft attachments for tissue regeneration. Proceedings of the 12th Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics (pp 3-4). London, UK, 23 June 2019 - 26 June 2019. View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Perez-Guagnelli ER, Nejus S, Yu J, Miyashita S, Liu Y & Damian D (2018) Axially and Radially Expandable Modular Helical Soft Actuator for Robotic Implantables. Proceedings of 2018 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (pp 4297-4304), 21 May 2018 - 25 May 2018. View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • du Plessis d’Argentr´e A, Perry S, Iwata Y, Iwasaki H, Iwase E, Fabozzo A, Will I, Rus D, Damian D & Miyashita S (2018) Programmable Medicine: Autonomous, Ingestible, Deployable Hydrogel Patch and Plug for Stomach Ulcer Therapy. Proceedings of 2018 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) (pp 1511-1518), 21 May 2018 - 25 May 2018. View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Watton P, Afaq H, Damian D & Grytsan A (2018) In-Silico Modelling of Oesophageal Tissue for Treatment of Long Gap Oesophageal Atresia. Proceedings of the Virtual Physiological Human conference (VPH), Zaragoza, Spain, 5-7 September 2018 View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Perez-Guagnelli ER, Nejus S, Yu J, Miyashita S, Liu Y & Damian DD (2018) Axially and Radially Expandable Modular Helical Soft Actuator for Robotic Implantables.. ICRA (pp 1-9) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Thorn A, Afacan D, Ingham E, Cavak C, Miyashita S & Damian D (2017) Low-power and low-cost stiffness-variable oesophageal tissue phantom. Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems, Vol. 10454 (pp 351-362), 19 July 2017 - 21 July 2017. View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ingham E, Miyashita S & Damian D (2017) Elastomeric spring actuator using nylon wires. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), Vol. 10454 LNAI (pp 540-547) View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Miyashita S, Guitron S, Yoshida K, Shuguang Li , Damian DD & Rus D (2016) Ingestible, controllable, and degradable origami robot for patching stomach wounds. 2016 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 16 May 2016 - 21 May 2016. View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Damian DD, Arabagi S, Fabozzo A, Ngo P, Jennings R, Manfredi M & Dupont PE (2014) Robotic implant to apply tissue traction forces in the treatment of esophageal atresia. 2014 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) (pp 786-792), 31 May 2014 - 7 June 2014. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Fries F, Miyashita S, Rus D, Pfeifer R & Damian DD (2014) Electromagnetically driven elastic actuator. 2014 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO 2014), 5 December 2014 - 10 December 2014. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Roberts P, Damian DD, Shan W, Lu T & Majidi C (2013) Soft-matter capacitive sensor for measuring shear and pressure deformation. 2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 6 May 2013 - 10 May 2013. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Damian DD, Ludersdorfer M, Yeongmi Kim , Hernandez Arieta A, Pfeifer R & Okamura AM (2012) Wearable haptic device for cutaneous force and slip speed display. 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 14 May 2012 - 18 May 2012. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Damian DD, Arieta AH & Okamura AM (2011) Design and evaluation of a multi-modal haptic skin stimulation apparatus. Proceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBS (pp 3455-3458) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Cadosch D, Huang P-T, Damian DD, Miyashita S, Aoyama A & Pfeifer R (2011) Attempt on plant machine interface. 2011 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, 9 October 2011 - 12 October 2011. RIS download Bibtex download
  • David N, Carstea CG, Ratiu IG, Patrascu L & Damian D (2010) Web Services - Opportunities and challenges. International Conference on Applied Computer Science - Proceedings (pp 436-439) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Damian DD, Martinez H, Dermitzakis K, Hernandez-Arieta A & Pfeifer R (2010) Artificial ridged skin for slippage speed detection in prosthetic hand applications. 2010 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 18 October 2010 - 22 October 2010. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Cadosch D, Böiler M, Ammann M, Damian DD, Miyashita S & Pfeifer R (2010) Attempt towards the cyborg-plant robotic response to water stress in avocados. 4th International Conference on Cognitive Systems, CogSys 2010 RIS download Bibtex download
  • Damian DD & Dermitzakis K (2010) Morphological design for a prosthetic hand: Bone curvature and ridged skin. 4th International Conference on Cognitive Systems, CogSys 2010 RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ratiu IG, Carstea CG, David N, Damian D & Patrascu L (2010) Dynamic control of genetic algorithms using fuzzy logic techniques. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences India Section A - Physical Sciences, Vol. 80(1) (pp 71-80) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Patrascu L, Ratiu IG, Carstea CG, Damian D & David N (2009) Equity capitals situation - Definitive in assessing the company's financial statements. Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Manufacturing Engineering, Quality and Production Systems, MEQAPS '09, Vol. 1 (pp 170-174) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Carstea C, Ratiu IG, Patrascu L, Plesea D, Damian D & David N (2009) Effects of IT on competition. Proc. 9th WSEAS Int. Conf. Simulation, Modelling and Optimization, SMO '09, 5th WSEAS Int. Symp. Grid Computing, Proc. 5th WSEAS Int. Symp. Digital Libraries, Proc. 5th WSEAS Int. Symp. Data Mining (pp 69-73) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Plesea D, Patrascu L, Carstea CG, Ratiu IG, Damian D & David N (2009) Economic risk analysis (operating). Proc. 9th WSEAS Int. Conf. Simulation, Modelling and Optimization, SMO '09, 5th WSEAS Int. Symp. Grid Computing, Proc. 5th WSEAS Int. Symp. Digital Libraries, Proc. 5th WSEAS Int. Symp. Data Mining (pp 57-60) RIS download Bibtex download
  • David N, Patrascu L, Ratiu IG, Carstea CG, Plesea D & Damian D (2009) On some probabilistic models for software reliability. Proc. 9th WSEAS Int. Conf. Simulation, Modelling and Optimization, SMO '09, 5th WSEAS Int. Symp. Grid Computing, Proc. 5th WSEAS Int. Symp. Digital Libraries, Proc. 5th WSEAS Int. Symp. Data Mining (pp 61-64) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Damian D, Carstea CG, Patrascu L, Ratiu IG, David N & Plesea D (2009) An economic application on the itô lemma. Proc. 9th WSEAS Int. Conf. Simulation, Modelling and Optimization, SMO '09, 5th WSEAS Int. Symp. Grid Computing, Proc. 5th WSEAS Int. Symp. Digital Libraries, Proc. 5th WSEAS Int. Symp. Data Mining (pp 65-68) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Damian D (2009) A mathematical model for the study of economic phenomenons. Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Manufacturing Engineering, Quality and Production Systems, MEQAPS '09, Vol. 1 (pp 158-163) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Patrascu L, Plesea D, Ratiu IG, Carstea CG, Damian D & David N (2009) Study on financial performance. Proc. 9th WSEAS Int. Conf. Simulation, Modelling and Optimization, SMO '09, 5th WSEAS Int. Symp. Grid Computing, Proc. 5th WSEAS Int. Symp. Digital Libraries, Proc. 5th WSEAS Int. Symp. Data Mining (pp 47-50) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Damian DD, Hernandez-Arieta A, Lungarella M & Pfeifer R (2009) An automated metrics set for mutual adaptation between human and robotic device. 2009 IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, 23 June 2009 - 26 June 2009. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Cireşan D & Damian D (2006) Preserving Topological Information in the Windowed Hough Transform for Rectangle Extraction (pp 172-181) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Balasubramanian L, Wray T & Damian D () Fault Tolerant Control in Shape-Changing Internal Robots. 2020 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Herzig N, Jones J, Perez Guagnelli ER & Damian D () Model and Validation of a Highly Extensible and Tough Actuator based on a Ballooning Membrane. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation : ICRA : [proceedings] IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation RIS download Bibtex download
  • Smith A, Thanarak J, Green N & Damian D () Design and Development of a Robotic Bioreactor for In Vitro Tissue Engineering. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation : ICRA : [proceedings] IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation RIS download Bibtex download
Grants
  • A new treatment for short bowel syndrome using a soft-matter robotic implant – a preclinical study, MRC, 10/2023 - 09/2024, £174,943, as PI
  • Tissue-RIMOTE: Tissue-Responsive Robotic Implants for In Vivo Mechanostimulation-Based Tissue Regeneration, EPSRC, 10/2019 - 08/2022, £260,698, as PI
  • Swiss National Foundation, Advanced Postdoc Mobility, 2014-2015, P300P2_151248, sole applicant
  • Swiss National Foundation, Prospective Researcher Fellowship, 2013, PBZHP2_143344, sole applicant
  • Swiss National Foundation, Prospective Researcher Fellowship, 2011, PBZHP2-135917, sole applicant
  • Swiss National Foundation, Dynamical Coupling in motor-sensory function substitution, 2010, #CR23I2_132702/1, co-applicant
Teaching activities

Module leader

ACS231 Mechatronics 

Also teaches on 

ACS6502 Mechatronics for Robotics

Guest lecturer

Introduction to Bioengineering, University of Sheffield, Fall 2015
Artificial Life course, University of Zurich, 2009
Neural Networks course, University of Zurich, 2008
Introduction to Robotics lecture, “Lucian Blaga National High School”, Sebes, Romania