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Biography

Dr. Lacey has an international research track record using sensors and computers to embed intelligence into everyday devices thereby creating new types of human-machine interaction. He has 37 publications including journals, conferences, patents, book chapters, and is co-editor of one book. The majority of this research has been in the healthcare domain with technical contributions in Image Processing, Robotics and Human-Computer Interaction. In 2000 Dr. Lacey founded Haptica Ltd, a company that develops and sells Augmented Reality surgical training products to hospitals and universities around the world. From 2000 to 2005 he was CEO and CTO of the company. In November 2005 he returned to TCD as a lecturer. He remains as a director and scientific advisor to Haptica. His main research area is sensor driven human-machine interaction. The best know output of this research has been a novel robotic walking frame for the elderly. This research won several best paper awards and was featured on Tomorrows World 1999 and was the subject of a New Scientist article 1999. His main research topics are Computer Vision, Augmented Reality, Robotics and Decision Making in Uncertainty. In his academic carrier he has managed international EU research Projects (3), Enterprise Ireland Projects (2). In 1998-2000 he was leader of the Computer Vision and Robotics Research Group which comprised Post Docs (3), PhD Students (5), MSc Students (7) and visiting professors. His has been a reviewer for Enterprise Ireland 1999-2002, on the scientific review panel for SIRS, IROS, IMVIP, EAAI, RESNA, and reviewed papers for IEEE Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, and the International Journal of Robotics Research. He has been a visiting researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Field and Space Robotics Lab (1999) and the University of Edinburgh, Dept of AI (1995).

Research Tags

Augmented Reality Computer Vision and Image Processing Computer vision and robotics Decision Making in Uncertainty Human computer interactions Imaging and Computer Vision Medical Image Processing Multimedia Robotics Virtual Reality Wireless Sensor Networks

Research Projects

Project Title

PAM-AID

From

Summary

The PAM-AID project (www.cs.tcd.ie/PAMAID) has been running in the Department of Computer Science, Trinity College, Dublin since 1994. It aim is to develop a mobility aid for people who are both frail and visually impaired. It is motivated by the fact that the combination of visual impairment and frailty severely limits a persons independence. PAM-AID aims to provide a mobility aid with makes taking independent exercise a safer and more enjoyable experience. The project has been funded by the Trinity Foundation, the National Rehabilitation Board and The Telematics Applications Programme of the European Union. PAM-AID is now being commercialized by Haptica (www.haptica.com). The Potential User Population As blind people get older, infirmity prevents the safe use of common mobility aids such as long canes and guide dogs. Often this can mean they are confined to bed for their own safety. The resulting sedentary lifestyle results in a rapid deterioration of their physical and mental health. Because the incidence of blindness rises as we get older over 65% of blind people are over 70 years old. Approximately 20% of all people over the age of 65 have some visual impairment and if you have a visual impairment you are twice as likely to have a mobility impairment as well, therefore number of people involved is significant. The Project Achievements The success of the project has been built upon the strong collaboration between User Organisations, Universities and Industry. Since 1994 many versions of PAM-AID have been developed and evaluated. By 1999 eight systems had been built and nine field trial have been carried out in Ireland, the UK and Sweden. The users, all visually impaired residents of retirement homes, found PAM-AID to be well designed and useful. In 2000 this technology was spun off to www.haptica.com

Funding Agency

Trinity Foundation, the National Rehabilitation Board and The Telematics Applications Programme of t

Representations

Details	Date
Editorial Boards: Managing Interactions in Smart Environments(MANSE'99), Springer.	1999

Memberships

Membership of Professional Institutions, Associations, Societies

Details	Date From	Date To
Member of IEEE

Publications and other Research Outputs

Rozenn Dahyot, Gerard Lacey, Kenneth Dawson-Howe, François Pitié, David Moloney (Editors), IRISH MACHINE VISION & IMAGE PROCESSING Conference proceedings 2015, Irish Pattern Recognition & Classification Society (ISBN 978-0-9934207-0-2), 2015, 1 - 139pp, Notes: [http://hdl.handle.net/2262/74714], Book, PUBLISHED TARA - Full Text Handle Other

Stewardson AJ, Iten A, Camus V, Gayet-Ageron A, Caulfield D, Lacey G, Pittet D, Efficacy of a new educational tool to improve Handrubbing technique amongst healthcare workers: a controlled, before-after study., PloS one, 9, (9), 2014, pe105866 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED TARA - Full Text DOI

Mirko Arnold, Stefan Ameling, Anarta Ghosh, and Gerard Lacey, Quality Improvement of Endoscopy Videos, 8th IASTED International Conference on Biomedical Engineering, Innsbruck, Austria, February 2011, 2011, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED DOI

Stefan Ameling, Johnson Li, Jiang Zhou, Anarta Ghosh, Gerard Lacey, Eilish Creamer, Hilary Humphreys, A Vision-Based System for Hand Washing Quality Asessment with Real-Time Feedback, he Eighth IASTED International Conference on Biomedical Engineering, Innsbruck, Austria, February 12-18, 2011, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED DOI

A. Ghosh, G. Lacey, C. Gush, S. Barnes, The impact of real-time computerized video analysis and feedback on hand hygiene practice and technique on a surgical ward, International Conference on Prevention and Infection Control, Geneva, 29 June- 2 July 2011, 2011, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED DOI

S. Ameling, G. Ó Fearghaíl, S. Álvarez, G. Lacey, DESIGN OF AUTOMATED TRAINING AND MONITORING SYSTEM FOR ALCOHOL-BASED HAND RUB SURGICAL HAND PREPARATION, International Conference on Prevention and Infection Control, Geneva, 29 June- 2 July 2011, 2011, Poster, PUBLISHED

Mirko Arnold, Anarta Ghosh, Stefan Ameling, and Gerard Lacey, Automatic Segmentation and Inpainting of Specular Highlights for Endoscopic Imaging, EURASIP Journal on Image and Video Processing, 2010, (814319), 2010, p12 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED TARA - Full Text DOI

Li J, Kavanagh P, Lacey G, Creamer E, Dolan A, Sherlock O, Deirdre Fitzgerald-Hughes, Shore A, Sullivan D, Kinnevey P. Rossney AS, Cunney R, Coleman D, Humphreys H, An evaluation on the use of a video system to improve the quality of hand hygiene practice , 5th Decennial International Conference on Healthcare Acquired Infections, Atlanta, March 2010, 2010, Meeting Abstract, PUBLISHED

Stefan Ameling, Stephan Wirth, Dietrich Paulus, Gerard Lacey, Fernando Vilarino, Texture-based Polyp Detection in Colonoscopy , BILDVERARBEITUNG FÜR DIE MEDIZIN 2009, Heidelberg, 22. - 25. March 2009, 2009, pp1 - 2, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED DOI

Fernando Vilarino and Gerard Lacey, QUALITY ASSESSMENT IN COLONOSCOPY New challenges through computer vision-based systems , 3rd International Conference on Biomedical Electronics and Devices, Porto, Portugal, January 2009, 2009, pp1 - 2, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED DOI

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Sergio Álvarez, David F. Llorca, Gerard Lacey, Stefan Ameling, Spatial Hand Segmentation Using Skin Colour and Background Subtraction, Dublin , Trinity College Dublin's Computer Science Technical Report, November, 2010, (TCD-CS-2010-35), Report, PUBLISHED

Gerard Lacey, Derek Young, Derek Cassidy, Fiona Slevin and Donncha Ryan, Augmeted reality interface for laparoscopic skills training, Gaming and Simulation based Learning applications for Medicine, Long Beach, USA, January, 2005, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED

Paddy Nixon, Gerard Lacey and Simon Dobson, Smart Environments: challanges for the computing community, Managing Interactions in Smart Enviroments, Dublin Ireland, 2000, edited by Paddy Nixon, Gerard Lacey and Simon Dobson , Springer Verlag, 2000, pp1 - 4, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED

Shane MacNamara and Gerard Lacey, development of a mobile robot walking aid for the frail visually impaired, BioEngineering in Ireland 5, Blessington, Ireland, January, Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland, 1999, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED

Awards and Honours

Award	Date
National Rehabilitation Board Scholarship	1995
Rehab Engineering Soc. Of North America Design Prize	1999
Campus Company Development Award	2001
EU Information Society Technology (IST) prize winner	2004
Soc. Laparoscopic Surgeons (SLS) Innovation of the Year	2004
§ Irish Software Association, Technical Innovation Award	2004

Research Interests

Description Of Research Interests

The Key research areas are Medical Image Processing, Augmented Reality and Mobile Robotics for Assistive Technology. Medical Image Processing (video and still images): This research is focused on analysis the images from endoscopes and other imaging tools using in clinical practice and providing the user with additional information to assist in clinical decision making. Augmented Reality: By combining Video Images and Graphical Images into a single view the computer and real worlds may be merged to create and "augmented reality" the applications for this technology are as diverse as medical procedure guidance, e-learning and entertainment. Dr. Lacey's research is focused on object tracking and accurate rendering of Graphical Objects and studying the human factors issues involved. Mobile Robotics applied to Assistive Technology: technical aids for the elderly and disabled e.g. Robot Mobility Aids (PAM-AID) Robot Mobility Aid (GUIDO), Intelligent Interfaces and Smart Buildings

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Dr. Gerard Lacey