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Micromachines
Special Issues
Soft Robotic Medical Devices
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Soft Robotic Medical Devices

A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "B：Biology and Biomedicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2021) | Viewed by 5492

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Sang-Eun Song

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA
Interests: soft robotic medical devices; medical robotics; surgical and healthcare devices; nonrigid assistive robots; robotic orthopedic surgery; soft robotics in healthcare

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, robotic technology has been actively introduced to medical devices, and a number of clinical applications have been commercialized. Advanced robotic systems will introduce safer and more precise manipulation in diagnosis, therapy, and surgery. Compared to traditional robotics, soft robotics are rapidly emerging as an alternative due to their inherent safety, less complex designs, and increased potential for portability and efficacy. Therefore, soft robotic devices have desirable traits for applications, such as in surgery and healthcare.

Soft robotics focuses on utilizing soft actuators and compliant materials to construct robotic devices. Due to the actuation characteristics and mechanical properties of the materials, soft robots can match the motion and stiffness of the body, and these advantages make them well placed to meet the demands of healthcare such as minimally invasive surgery, assistive systems, and wearable devices. However, these are still in their infancy. To review the state-of-the-art of soft robotic medical devices in healthcare, we welcome, in this Special Issue, all original research or review articles on the design and application of soft robotic medical devices in various healthcare applications.

Dr. Sang-Eun Song
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Micromachines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Soft robotics for healthcare
  • Soft robotic surgical device
  • Soft robotic assistive system
  • Non rigid assistive system
  • Soft wearable devices
  • Exosuit

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 6035 KiB  
Article
Feasibility Study and Experimental Evaluation of the Design of Nodule Prototype Developed for Palpation Display Apparatus: A Novel Device for Contactless Primary Tactile Diagnosis
by Sakura Sikander, Pradipta Biswas and Sang-Eun Song
Micromachines 2021, 12(5), 576; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mi12050576 - 19 May 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2652
Abstract
Background: Lack of feasible palpation display for primary diagnosis of a tumor without any need of physician to patient physical contact has been reported as one of the major concerns. To further explore this area, we developed a novel palpation device consisting of [...] Read more.
Background: Lack of feasible palpation display for primary diagnosis of a tumor without any need of physician to patient physical contact has been reported as one of the major concerns. To further explore this area, we developed a novel palpation device consisting of a uniquely designed nodule mechanism (based on optimizing nodule top and bottom hemisphere wall thickness and manipulating granular jamming method) that can vary stiffness while maintaining the shape of the same nodule display, for which current devices are not capable of in terms of aping a tumor. Methods: This paper evaluates the manufacturing approach of the nodule, exploring several iterations of the nodule prototype. Experiments were performed on nodule prototypes of varying wall thicknesses in order to evaluate its effect on stiffness and deformation. Results and Conclusions: Experimental results showed that nodule top and bottom wall thickness had a significant effect on the stiffness and deformation of the nodule. The higher the thickness of the top hemisphere and the lower the thickness of the bottom hemisphere, the greater the stiffness the nodule can achieve. Similarly, the display shape of the nodule can be maintained with minimal or no deformation if the nodule top hemisphere thickness is optimally higher than bottom hemisphere thickness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soft Robotic Medical Devices)
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10 pages, 778 KiB  
Article
Sensor-Embedded Automatic Grasping Forceps for Precise Corneal Suture in Penetrating Keratoplasty
by Hyung-Gon Shin, Ikjong Park, Keehoon Kim, Hong-Kyun Kim and Wan-Kyun Chung
Micromachines 2021, 12(5), 484; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mi12050484 - 23 Apr 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2277
Abstract
In penetrating keratoplasty (PKP), the proper corneal suture placement is very important for successful transplantation and restoring functional vision. Generating sutures with accurate depth is difficult for the surgeon because of the tissue’s softness, lack of depth information, and hand tremors. In this [...] Read more.
In penetrating keratoplasty (PKP), the proper corneal suture placement is very important for successful transplantation and restoring functional vision. Generating sutures with accurate depth is difficult for the surgeon because of the tissue’s softness, lack of depth information, and hand tremors. In this paper, an automatic cornea grasping device is proposed, which detects when the device reaches the target suture depth. When the device reaches the target depth, the device rapidly grasps the cornea to prevent error induced by human hand tremors. In the paper, the performance of the proposed sensor, the actuator, and the device are experimentally verified with ex vivo experiment. The result showed that the proposed device could enhance the accuracy and precision of the corneal suture depth. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soft Robotic Medical Devices)
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