Ultrasonics is common in all areas of society, from surgery to car parking sensor systems. Presently, an ultrasonic device is only designed to work efficiently in one way, limited by the materials we can use. However, imagine being able to undertake faster and safer ultrasonic surgery, resulting in lower tissue damage and faster patient recovery, by using a device whose properties we can control. Also imagine a device which can heal through a controlled stimulus. There are materials we can use to transform ultrasonic devices, to create those with higher performance capabilities, including adaptability and self-healing. These features can be realised by using a different type of material, a type we can train to behave in the way we want. These smart materials can be trained to react to changes in temperature, magnetic or electric field, force, pH, and in some cases even light. This project studies the science of how we can engineer a specific type of smart material which can be trained to transform its material properties and shape, to create a transformation in ultrasonics. We can refer to this material as a shape memory material, of which Nitinol is the most popular in use today. Ultrasonics is already ubiquitous, and it is essential we make this next step to improve lives by uncovering and controlling the exciting properties of shape memory materials. This research is a gateway to future intelligent materials - those which can make decisions.

The range of surgical tools for interventional procedures that dissect or fragment tissue has not changed significantly for millennia. There is huge potential for ultrasonic devices to enable new minimal access surgeries, offering higher precision, much lower force, better preservation of delicate structures, low thermal damage and, importantly, enabling more procedures to be carried out on an out-patient or day surgery basis. To realise this potential, and deliver our vision of ultrasonics being the technology of choice for minimal access interventional surgery, a completely new approach to device design is required, to achieve miniaturisation and to incorporate both a cutting and healing capability in the devices. By integrating with innovative flexible, tentacle-like surgical robots, we will bring ultrasonic devices deep into the human body, along tortuous pathways to the surgical site, to deliver unparalleled precision. Unsurpassed precision in challenging neurological, skull-base and spinal procedures as well as in general surgery is attainable through tailoring the robotic-ultrasonic devices to deliver the exact ultrasonic energy to the exact locations required to optimise the surgery. We will achieve this by quantifying the effects of the ultrasonic excitations typical of surgical devices in tissues, at and surrounding the site of surgery, in terms of precision cutting, tissue damage (mechanical damage, thermal necrosis, cavitation) but also the potential to aid regeneration. We will make world-leading advances in ultra-high speed imaging measurements and biophysical analysis, complementing advances in histology and clinical assessment, to develop a combined approach to the characterisation of both damage and regeneration of tissue. Through this holistic approach to device design, we will create integrated robotic-ultrasonic surgical devices tailored for optimised surgery.