Towards the development of a soft manipulator as an assistive robot for personal care of elderly people

Ansari, Yasmin; Manti, Mariangela; Falotico, Egidio; Mollard, Yoan; Cianchetti, Matteo; Laschi, Cecilia

doi:10.1177/1729881416687132

Cited by 85 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Recently developed soft-robots prototypes have a wide variety of functions and application spanning from robotic gripper for minimally invasive surgery, to soft-robot underwater exploration and even soft manipulators for assistive human care (Calisti et al, 2015;Krieg et al, 2015;Shen, 2016). The last application takes advantages of the high compliance and dexterity of soft manipulators, which ensures safe human-robot interaction (Ansari et al, 2017). Given the complexity of soft-robotics, results have been possible only through the cross-integration of diverse expertise coming from neuroscientists, engineers, material scientists, and computational biologists, thus setting the bases for a "melting pot" between biology and soft-robotics engineering.…”

Section: Soft Roboticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cephalopods Between Science, Art, and Engineering: A Contemporary Synthesis

et al. 2018

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Cephalopods are outstanding animals. For centuries, they have provided a rich source of inspiration to many aspects of human cultures, from art, history, media, and spiritual beliefs to the most exquisite scientific curiosity. Given their high esthetical value and "mysteriously" rich behavioral repertoire they have functioned as boundary objects (or subjects) connecting seemingly distinct thematic fields. Interesting aspects of their being span from the rapid camouflaging ability inspiring contemporary art practices, to their soft and fully muscular body that curiously enough inspired both gastronomy and (soft) robotics. The areas influenced by cephalopods include ancient mythology, art, behavioral science, neuroscience, genomics, camouflage technology, and bespoken robotics. Although these might seem far related fields, in this manuscript we want to show how the increasing scientific and popular interest in this heterogeneous class of animals have indeed prompted a high level of integration between scientific, artistic, and sub-popular culture. We will present an overview of the birth and life of cephalopod investigations from the traditional study of ethology, neuroscience, and biodiversity to the more recent and emerging field of genomics, material industry, and soft robotics. Within this framework, we will attempt to capture the current interest and progress in cephalopod scientific research that lately met both the public interest and the "liberal arts" curiosity.

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Section: Soft Roboticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cephalopods Between Science, Art, and Engineering: A Contemporary Synthesis

et al. 2018

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“…Soft medical robots are multidisciplinary emerging technologies such as materials science, bionics, mechanics, electronics, and computer science. At present, soft medical robots have been used for surgery, diagnosis, rehabilitation, prostheses, artificial organs, drug delivery and many other medical applications . The movements such as bending, torsion, extension, and contact operations required high flexibility and deformability of soft medical robots.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A review of recent advancements in soft and flexible robots for medical applications

Zhang

2020

Robotics Computer Surgery

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Background: Soft and flexible robots for medical applications are needed to change their flexibility over a wide range to perform tasks adequately. The mechanism and theory of flexibility has been a scientific issue and is of interest to the community. Methods: Recent advancements of bionics, flexible actuation, sensing, and intelligent control algorithms as well as tunable stiffness have been referenced when soft and flexible robots are developed. The benefits and limitations of these relevant studies and how they affect the flexibility are discussed, and possible research directions are explored. Results: The bionic materials and structures that demonstrate the potential capabilities of the soft medical robot flexibility are the fundamental guarantee for clinical medical applications. Flexible actuation that used to provide power, intelligent control algorithms which are the exact executors, and the wide range stiffness of the soft materials are the three important influence factors for soft medical robots. Conclusion: Some reasonable suggestions and possible solutions for soft and flexible medical robots are proposed, including novel materials, flexible actuation concepts with a built-in source of energy or power, programmable flexibility, and adjustable stiffness. K E Y W O R D S bionics, flexible actuation, sensing and intelligent control algorithm, soft and flexible robots, tunable stiffness 1 | INTRODUCTION The application of robots in the medical field dates back to a few decades ago, but the recent use of soft materials in medical robots has enabled new capabilities that create possibilities for medical treatments in which much safer human-robot interaction is preferred. 1-3 Soft medical robots are defined as soft and flexible electro-mechanical systems with high flexibility performing medical applications. Soft medical robots are multidisciplinary emerging technologies 4 such as materials science, bionics, mechanics, electronics, and computer science. At present, soft medical robots have been used for surgery, 5diagnosis, 6 rehabilitation, 7 prostheses, 8 artificial organs, 9 drug delivery 10 and many other medical applications. [11][12][13][14][15][16] The movements such as bending, torsion, extension, and contact operations 17 required high flexibility and deformability 18 of soft medical robots.Soft medical robots exhibit a range of degrees of flexibility during medical applications. In this paper, flexibility is used to describe the characteristics of soft medical robots that have a proper combination of stiffness and compliance and it is on the scientific level. Actually, flexibility reflects in three aspects: the variety of shape, the wide range of stiffness, and the adequate force applied. It is necessary for soft medical robots that it can change their flexibility degree over a wide range to perform tasks adequately. For example, there has certainly been a longterm demand in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) applications for soft medical robots that can move, deform, navigate narrow gaps, and int...

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“…With a growing number of people becoming dependent on professional healthcare services, there has been a growing interest in the use of robots in assistive technology (Ansari et al, 2017). Currently there are three different kinds of assistive robots.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Continuum robots utilize elastic material that allows it to exhibit infinite degrees of freedom (Mishra, Del Dottore, Sadeghi, Mondini, & Mazzolai, 2017). There has been a history of soft or flexible robotics which often share similar features as continuum manipulators, in that they're made of soft material, able to bend, and have at least a semi continuous backbone (Ansari et al, 2017). As continuity lies on a spectrum, many current research goals aim to push robotics further towards being fully continuous, while some research also goes into making hybrid type robots, that exhibit a mix of rigid joints and fluid segments (Mishra et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bendy ARM 2.0: Continuum Arm Manipulator Refinement and Control for Assistive Technology

Swanson¹,

Metevier²,

Sneller³

et al. 2018

Preprint

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Rigid link robots currently dominate the market for manipulators in assistive technology, though research on continuum robots for assistive technology has been developing over recent years. These types of robots have a continuous backbone that allows them to have infinite degrees of freedom, making them highly compliant, however this brings challenges in terms of modelling and control. Additionally, materials for this type of application require specific qualities. In this work, we attempt to address these problems while designing a continuum arm suitable for assistive technology applications. Bendy ARM 2.0 is a revised version of the first Bendy ARM robot to accomplish these goals. In its first iteration, Bendy ARM had limitations in its mechanical function, such as the structural performance of the backbone, which decreased the accuracy in positional control. Nitinol was tested as a new backbone material but failed during testing so a low density polyethylene was chosen. Cable conduits were added to help reduce the mechanical coupling between the proximal and distal segments of the manipulator. Motion processing units (MPU) are utilized to gather tilt angles and provide direction for automated movements. Due to the arms natural rotation, this data alone was not enough to consistently control and place the robot. With the information gathered, further consideration of backbone material and usage of MPU data is required for an automatable robot.

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Towards the development of a soft manipulator as an assistive robot for personal care of elderly people

Cited by 85 publications

References 34 publications

Cephalopods Between Science, Art, and Engineering: A Contemporary Synthesis

Cephalopods Between Science, Art, and Engineering: A Contemporary Synthesis

A review of recent advancements in soft and flexible robots for medical applications

Bendy ARM 2.0: Continuum Arm Manipulator Refinement and Control for Assistive Technology

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