International Bejczy Day 2016

In memoriam Prof. Tony (Antal) Bejczy, physicist, lead researched of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, professor of the California Institute of Technology and Washington University in St. Louis, an internationally renowned expert in space research and robotics, Óbuda University Antal Bejczy Center for Intelligent Robotics established the annual event International Bejczy Day on January 16.   

Aligned to the birthday of Prof. Bejczy, each year on Jan. 16, the University pays its respects with a scientific event to the internationally renowned researcher’s life work, who was also the honorary doctor of Óbuda University.  The first memorial was organized Jan. 18, 2016, where the main event was the ceremonial opening of the Bejczy museum and exhibition. For the first time, the Research and Innovation Center and the Óbuda University Student Committee presented the Antal Bejczy publication award, which went to the OU student paper focusing on the sensorization and testing of a AUV. 

The OU journal Acta Polytechnica Hungarica published a special issue for the event. One of the open access pepers focuses on the early days of surgical robotics: Takács et al., "Origins of Surgical Robotics: From Space to the Operating Room":

"The rapid development of telerobotic systems led to novel applications beyond the nuclear and industrial domains. Medical telerobotics enabled surgeons to perform medical operations from remote places, far from their patient. Telesurgery systems allow great flexibility, improved performance in general, and support the creation of ideal surgical conditions. The first attempts to develop telesurgical systems borrowed the idea from space research, where the need of novel robots emerged for invasive treatment, even under extreme situations, such as weightlessness. Telesurgical instruments on Earth appeared following the same concept, aiming first for military, then onward for civilian applications. Today, more than 1.5 million patients are receiving telerobotic treatment annually, worldwide. As the surgical robotics domain grew from the initial concepts, it developed along three major concepts: telesurgery, cooperatively controlled robots and automated (image-guided) applications. These domains continue to develop into application specific systems with the goal of reaching the specificity and versatility of conventional surgical instruments."