A Soft Modular Manipulator for Minimally Invasive Surgery: Design and Characterization of a Single Module

Ranzani, Tommaso; Cianchetti, Matteo; Gerboni, Giada; Falco, Iris De; Menciassi, Arianna

doi:10.1109/tro.2015.2507160

Cited by 208 publications

(119 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…This could be related to the main motivation behind the development of underwater soft robots, which is most of the time the analysis of biological models to gather fundamental insights about behaviors or locomotion. An example is the octopus-inspired arm developed in the framework of the OCTOPUS project (Laschi et al, 2012), which included biological insights about the muscular structure of the animal, and that was further developed in an application-driven prototype, by abstracting the anatomy of the animal but obtaining a more reliable device (Ranzani et al, 2016). The second reason is that underwater robotics poses additional constrains on communication, control, and design: wireless communication via traditional means (e.g., radio frequency or wi-fi) is not possible underwater, thus, it requires acoustic modems or tethered systems; state of soft robots control is still not adequate to properly operate underwater robots (which requires to take into account effects arising from drag, buoyancy, added masses, etc.…”

Section: Discussion and Lessons Learntmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contest-Driven Soft-Robotics Boost: The RoboSoft Grand Challenge

et al. 2016

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This paper reports the design process, the implementation, and the results of a novel robotic contest addressing soft robots, named RoboSoft Grand Challenge. Applicationoriented tasks were proposed in three different scenarios where soft robotics is particularly lively: manipulation, terrestrial, and underwater locomotion. Starting from about 60 expressions of interest submitted by international teams distributed across the world, 19 robots were eventually selected to participate in the challenge in two of the initially proposed scenarios, i.e., manipulation and terrestrial locomotion. Results highlight both the effectiveness and limitations of state of the art soft robots with respect to the selected tasks. The paper will also focus on some of the advantages and disadvantages of contests as technology-steering mechanisms, including what we called "reductionist design," a phenomenon in which simplistic solutions are devised to purposely tackle the proposed tasks, possibly hindering more general and desired technological advancements.

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Section: Discussion and Lessons Learntmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contest-Driven Soft-Robotics Boost: The RoboSoft Grand Challenge

et al. 2016

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“…Scenario of an endoscope that stiffen its proximal end to retract an organ and stiffen its distal end to perform surgical operation…”

Section: Concept For Future Soft Endoscope Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

A review on recent advances in soft surgical robots for endoscopic applications

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Beidokhti

Stramigioli

et al. 2019

Robotics Computer Surgery

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Background Soft materials, with their compliant properties, enable conformity and safe interaction with human body. With the advance in actuation and sensing of soft materials, new paradigm in robotics called “soft robotics” emerges. Soft robotics has become a new approach in designing medical devices such as wearable robotic gloves and exoskeleton. However, application of soft robotics in surgical instrument inside human body is still in its infancy. Aims In this paper, current application and design of soft robots specifically applied for endoscopy are reviewed. Materials & Methods Different aspects in the implementation of soft robotics in endoscope design were reviewed. The key studies about MIS and NOTES were reviewed to establish the clinical background and extract the limitations of current endoscopic device in the last decade. Results and discussion In this review study, the implementation of soft robotics concepts in endoscopic application, with highlights on different features of several soft endoscopes, were evaluated. The progress in different aspects of soft robotics endoscope, current state, and future perspectives were also discussed. Conclusion Based on the survey on the structural specification, actuation, sensing, and stiffening the future soft surgical endoscopes are recommended to fulfil the following specifications: safe especially from pressure leakage, fully biocompatible materials, MR‐compatible, capable for large bending in at least two antagonistic directions, modularity, adjustable stiffness.

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“…The soft continuum manipulator considered in this research was developed as part of the EU FP7 STIFF-FLOP Project [27], [28]. It is conceived as a modular device [27], [29], inspired by octopus' tentacles [30]- [32].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is conceived as a modular device [27], [29], inspired by octopus' tentacles [30]- [32]. It is composed of serially connected modules fabricated from Ecoflex 0050 silicone, pictured in Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%