PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Pierre E. Dupont

Pierre Dupont is a Harvard professor and medical-robotics researcher whose work brings machine learning into autonomous surgery. He earned mechanical-engineering degrees at Rensselaer, completed a Harvard postdoctoral fellowship, and became a professor at Boston University before leading Pediatric Cardiac Bioengineering at Boston Children’s. His work produced concentric-tube robot designs and a cardiac catheter that uses machine learning and haptic vision to navigate the beating heart. His group received IEEE robotics paper awards in 2010, 2012, and 2014; he also developed a two-armed neurosurgical robot and published on medical-robot autonomy in 2025. As of October 2026, he is Chief of Pediatric Cardiac Bioengineering at Boston Children’s Hospital and Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School.

Works
254
Citations
12,913
h-index
48
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 27 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1982–1990

    Engineering degrees and a Harvard postdoc

    He earns the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1982, 1984, and 1988. He is a postdoctoral fellow in Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences from 1988 to 1990.

  2. 2010

    A concentric-tube robot

    In 2010, he coauthors a paper on concentric-tube robots made from precurved elastic tubes. Rotation and extension of the tubes control the robot’s shape and tip.

  3. 2010

    A King-Sun Fu award

    His group receives the IEEE Transactions on Robotics King-Sun Fu Best Paper Award in 2010.

  4. 2012

    An ICRA medical robotics award

    His group receives ICRA’s Best Medical Robotics Paper Award in 2012.

  5. 2014

    An IROS Best Paper Award

    His group receives the IEEE/RSJ IROS Best Paper Award in 2014.

  6. December 2015

    Leading pediatric cardiac bioengineering

    After a professorship in mechanical and biomedical engineering at Boston University, he leads Pediatric Cardiac Bioengineering at Boston Children’s Hospital. By December 2015, he holds the Edward P. Marram Chair.

  7. April 2019

    An autonomous cardiac catheter

    In April 2019, he coauthors a Science Robotics paper on a catheter that navigates autonomously through the beating heart. Haptic vision combines machine learning and image processing to guide wall-following; animal experiments show navigation that rivals an experienced clinician.

  8. By September 2023

    A two-armed neurosurgical robot

    By September 2023, he has developed a prototype two-armed, joystick-controlled neurosurgical robot in consultation with Scellig Stone. The robot performs two-handed tumor-resection and tumor-debulking tasks in lab-created models.

  9. July 2025

    Medical robots learn autonomy

    In July 2025, he publishes the Science Robotics article “Medical robots learn to be autonomous.”

  10. As of October 2026

    Professor of surgery at Harvard

    As of October 2026, he is a staff scientist in Cardiovascular Surgery and Chief of Pediatric Cardiac Bioengineering at Boston Children’s Hospital, and Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. His lab is developing robotic cardiac catheters for valve repair and arrhythmia treatment. Autonomous control is listed as a possible component of these projects. In July 2026, he coauthors a perspective on autonomous robotic-assisted and microrobotic surgery across five surgical domains.

Career

  1. NowBoston Children's HospitalChief of Pediatric Cardiac Bioengineering
  2. NowBoston Children's HospitalStaff Scientist in Cardiovascular Surgery
  3. NowHarvard UniversityProfessor of Surgery
  4. 1988–1990Harvard UniversityPostdoctoral Fellow
  5. Boston UniversityProfessor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering
  6. Boston Children's HospitalEdward P. Marram Chair

Education

  1. 1988Rensselaer Polytechnic InstitutePh.D. in Mechanical Engineering
  2. 1984Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteM.S. in Mechanical Engineering
  3. 1982Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteB.S. in Mechanical Engineering

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Pierre E. Dupont yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Elastic Stability of Concentric Tube Robots Subject to External Loads pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Checked 27 October 2026.
  2. Design and Control of Concentric-Tube Robots pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Checked 27 October 2026.
  3. Lockheed Martin Robotics Seminar: Pierre Dupont, ‘Stretching the Boundaries of Medical Robotics’ robotics.umd.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  4. Autonomous Robotic Intracardiac Catheter Navigation Using Haptic Vision pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Checked 27 October 2026.
  5. Milestones - BCRP bcrp.childrenshospital.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  6. This two-handed robot goes deep into the brain answers.childrenshospital.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  7. Pierre E. Dupont | Boston Children’s Research research.childrenshospital.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  8. Toward autonomous robotic-assisted and microrobotic surgery snr.spl.harvard.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  9. September 11, 2026 - Volume 28, Number 1 hst.mit.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.