Jonas Smits, PhD

Mechatronics Engineer at Caranx Medical, with a focus on mechatronics and surgical robot hardware.

Jonas Smits obtained his M.Sc. in Electromechanical Engineering from KU Leuven, Belgium in 2015. After, he completed a PhD degree as a member of the Robot Assisted Surgery Group at the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, KU Leuven, Belgium. His doctoral thesis is entitled “Development and clinical translation of robot-assisted technology for retinal microsurgery”, and enabled a world-first in-human application in robot-assisted retinal surgery. He has collaborated actively in various national and international research projects with both academic and industry partners, with a strong focus on technology for interventional medicine.

Jonas is a former Fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders, National Laureate of the James Dyson Award, and an Entrepreneur First alumni. His research interests include surgical robotics, mechatronic system design, human-machine interaction, haptics, and clinical translation of technology.