A U.S.-based Nigerian control engineer, Mr Kenechukwu Nwajiaku, and his research team have developed an intelligent robotic control system that bends and twists skeletal fixation plates to fit patients’ jaws or bones precisely, according to a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos on Saturday. The innovation combines robotics, machine learning, and advanced control technology to shape patient-specific surgical plates, potentially making reconstructive surgery easier and more precise. The team includes scholars from Case Western Reserve University and The Ohio State University. The system uses a Gaussian Process-Enhanced Model Predictive Control framework, known as GP-MPC, to predict how a fixation plate will respond while being bent and twisted. Reconstructive surgeons use fixation plates to restore damaged facial and jaw bones following trauma, cancer, congenital conditions or surgical treatment, and accurate plate shaping is important because procedures can affect speaking, chewing, breathing and swallowing. Nwajiaku explained that manual shaping is difficult and time-consuming due to “springback,” where metal partially returns to its original form. The system predicts the plate’s response, compensates for springback, and determines required deformation. The peer-reviewed study, conducted at Case Western Reserve University, evaluated the technology through computer simulations and experiments on a physical robotic testbed. In combined bending-and-twisting tests, the GP-enhanced system improved deformation accuracy by approximately 22 per cent.