Sheila Russo

Design of a Robotic Module for Autonomous Exploration and Multimode Locomotion

The mechanical design of a novel robotic module for a self-reconfigurable modular robotic system is presented in this paper. The robotic module, named Scout robot, was designed to serve both as a fully sensorized autonomous miniaturized robot for exploration in unstructured environments and as a module of a larger robotic organism. The Scout robot has a quasi-cubic shape of 105 mm × 105 mm × 123.5 mm, and weighs less than 1 kg. It is provided with tracks for 2-D locomotion and with two rotational DoFs for reconfiguration and macrolocomotion when assembled in a modular structure. A laser sensor was incorporated to measure the distance and relative angle to an object, and image-guided locomotion was successfully demonstrated. In addition, five Scout robot prototypes were fabricated, and multimodal locomotion of assembled robots was demonstrated.

A Novel Robotic Platform for Laser-Assisted Transurethral Surgery of the Prostate

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is the most common pathology afflicting ageing men. The gold standard for the surgical treatment of BPH is transurethral resection of the prostate. The laser-assisted transurethral surgical treatment of BPH is recently emerging as a valid clinical alternative. Despite this, there are still some issues that hinder the outcome of laser surgery, e.g., distal dexterity is strongly reduced by the current endoscopic instrumentation and contact between laser and prostatic tissue cannot be monitored and optimized. This paper presents a novel robotic platform for laser-assisted transurethral surgery of BPH. The system, designed to be compatible with the traditional endoscopic instrumentation, is composed of a catheter-like robot provided with a fiber optic-based sensing system and a cable-driven actuation mechanism. The sensing system allows contact monitoring between the laser and the hypertrophic tissue. The actuation mechanism allows steering of the laser fiber inside the prostatic urethra of the patient, when contact must be reached. The design of the proposed robotic platform along with its preliminary testing and evaluation is presented in this paper. The actuation mechanism is tested in in vitro experiments to prove laser steering performances according to the clinical requirements. The sensing system is calibrated in experiments aimed to evaluate the capability of discriminating the contact forces, between the laser tip and the prostatic tissue, from the pulling forces exerted on the cables, during laser steering. These results have been validated demonstrating the robots capability of detecting sub-Newton contact forces even in combination with actuation.

Soft pop-up mechanisms for micro surgical tools: Design and characterization of compliant millimeter-scale articulated structures

This paper introduces a manufacturing technique which enables the integration of soft materials and soft fluidic micro-actuators in the Pop-up book MEMS paradigm. Such a technique represents a promising approach to the design and fabrication of low cost and scalable articulated mechanisms provided with sensing capabilities and on-board actuation with potential applications in the field of minimally invasive surgery. Design and integration of soft components in the rigid-flex laminates is described along with the resulting soft pop-up mechanisms realized at different scales. Prototype characterization is presented, demonstrating forces and dexterity in a range suitable for surgical applications, as well as the possibility to integrate sensing capabilities. Based on these results, a multi-articulated robotic arm is fabricated and mounted on top of an endoscope model to provide a proof of concept of simple robotic mechanisms that could be useful in a surgical scenario.

Force Transfer Characterization of a Soft Exosuit for Gait Assistance

Recently, there has been a growing interest in moving away from traditional rigid exoskeletons towards soft exosuits that can provide a variety of advantages including a reduction in both the weight carried by the wearer and the inertia experienced as the wearer flexes and extends their joints. These advantages are achieved by using structured functional textiles in combination with a flexible actuation scheme that enables assistive torques to be applied to the biological joints. Understanding the human-suit interface in these systems is important, as one of the key challenges with this approach is applying force to the human body in a manner that is safe, comfortable, and effective. This paper outlines a methodology for characterizing the structured functional textile of soft exosuits and then uses that methodology to evaluate several factors that lead to different suit-human series stiffnesses and pressure distributions over the body. These factors include the size of the force distribution area and the composition of the structured functional textile. Following the test results, design guidelines are suggested to maximize the safety, comfort, and efficiency of the exosuit.Copyright

Design of Scout Robot as a robotic module for symbiotic multi-robot organisms

Self-reconfigurable modular robots have been studied worldwide mainly for autonomous exploration in unstructured environments. In previous studies, robotic modules were designed to be functional only as a part of an assembled structure, and thus the exploration capability was limited. Symbiotic multi-robot organisms have been newly proposed to design robotic modules as large-scale swarms of robots that can physically dock with each other and symbiotically share energy and computational resources within a single “artificial-life-form”. In this paper, a novel robotic module named Scout Robot, which is one of the three robotic platforms designed for the multi-robot organisms, is presented. The Scout robot is an autonomous miniature robot and equipped with many onboard sensors and a locomotion capability. It can move autonomously on rough terrains to explore the surroundings and interact with the other robots. The Scout robot is also equipped with 2 DoFs of actuation and shares the same docking design with the other robotic platforms, and thus can be a part of an assembled organism. In the experiments, the image-guided locomotion of a Scout robot and the multimodal locomotion of assembled robots were demonstrated.

Toward Medical Devices With Integrated Mechanisms, Sensors, and Actuators Via Printed-Circuit MEMS

Recent advances in medical robotics have initiated a transition from rigid serial manipulators to flexible or continuum robots capable of navigating to confined anatomy within the body. A desire for further procedure minimization is a key accelerator for the development of these flexible systems where the end goal is to provide access to previously inaccessible anatomical workspaces and enable new minimallyinvasive surgical (MIS) procedures. While sophisticated navigation and control capabilities have been demonstrated for such systems, existing manufacturing approaches have limited the capabilities of mm-scale end-effectors for these flexible systems to date and, to achieve next generation highlyfunctional end-effectors for surgical robots, advanced manufacturing approaches are required. We address this challenge by utilizing a disruptive 2D layer-by-layer precision fabrication process (inspired by printed circuit board manufacturing) that can create functional 3D mechanisms by folding 2D layers of materials which may be structural, flexible, adhesive, or conductive. Such an approach enables actuation, sensing and circuitry to be directly integrated with the articulating features by selecting the appropriate materials during the layer-by-layer manufacturing process. To demonstrate the efficacy of this technology, we use it to fabricate three modular robotic components at the millimeter-scale: (1) sensors, (2) mechanisms, and (3) actuators. These modules could potentially be implemented into transendoscopic systems, enabling bilateral grasping, retraction and cutting, and could potentially mitigate challenging MIS interventions performed via endoscopy or flexible means. This research lays the ground work for new mechanism, sensor and actuation technologies that can be readily integrated via new mm-scale layer-by-layer manufacturing approaches.

Deployable stabilization mechanisms for endoscopic procedures

Flexible endoscopes are still the gold standard in most natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) procedures; however their flexibility (necessary for navigating through the GI tract) limits their capabilities in terms of distal manipulation and stability. We propose a deployable endoscopic add-on aimed at locally counteracting forces applied at the tip of an endoscope. We analyze different designs: a fully soft version and two hybrid soft-folded versions. The hybrid designs exploit either an inextensible structure pressurized by a soft actuator or the stiffness provided by the unfolded “magic cube” origami structure. We focus on the fabrication and experimental characterization of the proposed structures and present some preliminary designs and integration strategies to mount them on top of current flexible endoscopes.

Robotic consolle for ocular surgery: a preliminary study

Minimally invasive surgery has recently been improved by the use of robot-assisted procedures in several medical fields. Among the ocular surgeries there are a few examples of sophisticated vitreoretinal procedures, while robotic-assisted surgery of the anterior eye segment is still under study. In this paper we propose a new approach to the robotic assisted ocular surgery: a CO2 laser system is equipped with a micromanipulator and scanner, and it is proposed to induce photothermal effects for the removal of neoformations. A sensorized tool is connected to the patient eye and to the robotic arm. This tool is equipped with force and position sensors: by the use of the spatial information from the robotic console and from the patient it is possible to control the position of the target itself and to block it in the correct position for performing surgery. The system is provided by a feedback alarm that remove the block of the patient head in any moment. The optimized robotic consolle can be used in performing scleral cuts and in the treatment of pterigium or neoformations.