CAREER: Safe and Transformative Robotic Intervention through Dynamic Elastic Structures (STRIDES)

机器人设备目前正在医疗应用中使用，但由于缺乏能力，其普及受到阻碍。 该项目旨在通过提高柔性机器人和医疗设备的能力来改变医疗干预的安全性和有效性。 该项目旨在创建新的数学模型，以更好地了解柔性机器人的行为，并开发创新的机器人设备，以提高其覆盖范围，精度，智能和安全性。 该项目将与医疗专业人员合作，利用这些成果开发用于结肠癌微创手术切除和上肢康复的机器人系统。 这项研究是从根本上联系到一个教育计划，包括初中和高中工程推广，以及本科研究和开放式课件开发。这项研究是组织沿着三个技术推力，推进软和连续的机器人知识建模，设计和传感。 首先，该项目将为细长弹性物体的动力学创建一个新的计算框架，扩展并统一现有模型。 所提出的方法是一个独特的，高阶时间离散的解决方案的双曲型偏微分方程的Cosserat杆，这有可能提高精度和效率的方法。其次，本计画将分析并验证弹性机器人结构设计中的两个新概念：高强度、变曲率机构，以及同心式正反向弹性驱动。 这些概念旨在解决连续体机器人设计中的运动范围，强度和紧凑性的权衡。第三，正在开发和测试基于形状的分布式力传感和弹性物体的弹性稳定性评估的新算法方法。该研究计划的高潮是努力在系统层面推进机器人医疗干预的知识，用于微创机器人手术和机器人辅助康复。

Robotic devices are currently being used in medical applications, but their prevalence is hindered by lack of capability. This project seeks to transform the safety and effectiveness of medical interventions by advancing the capabilities of flexible robots and medical devices. The project aims to create new mathematical models to better understand the behavior of flexible robots and to develop innovative robotic devices to increase their reach, precision, intelligence, and safety. In collaboration with medical professionals, the project will use these results to develop robotic systems for minimally invasive surgical removal of colon cancer and upper extremity rehabilitation. The research is fundamentally linked to an educational plan that includes middle- and high-school engineering outreach, as well as undergraduate research and open courseware development.This research is organized along three technical thrusts that advance soft and continuum robotics knowledge in modeling, design, and sensing. First, the project will create a novel computational framework for the dynamics of slender elastic objects that extends and unifies existing models. The proposed approach is a unique, high-order time-discretized solution method for the hyperbolic partial-differential equations of a Cosserat rod, which has potential for increased accuracy and efficiency. Second, this project will analyze and validate two novel concepts in the design of elastic robotic structures: high-strength, variable-curvature mechanisms, and concentric agonist-antagonist elastic actuation. These concepts are aimed at addressing the tradeoffs of range-of-motion, strength, and compactness in continuum robot design. Third, new algorithmic approaches for shape-based distributed force sensing and elastic stability assessment for elastic objects are being developed and tested. The research plan culminates in efforts to advance knowledge of robotic medical intervention at the system level for minimally-invasive robotic surgery and robot-assisted rehabilitation.