I-Corps: Multi-axis Deformable Sensor/Actuator System

I-Corps项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力包括用于泌尿外科、胃肠外科、耳鼻喉外科和神经外科的智能算法驱动的高级支架。恶性梗阻、良性胆道狭窄、胆道渗漏、胆管结石、移植、恶性胰腺狭窄、胰瘘、慢性胰腺炎和胰腺分裂等患者可能受益于该技术。在美国，每年大约有112,000人接受这些疾病的治疗。与目前使用的塑料/聚四氟乙烯支架相比，这项发明有望显著提高支架的性能，并在许多方面增强功能。I-Corps项目将侧重于评估市场需求，以改进基于张拉整体原理的新型多轴可变形传感器/执行器的设计。它提供了一个轻量级的执行器系统与6个自由度的操作。这提供了创建三维结构的机会，可以将其运送到人体所需的解剖/手术部位，以修复狭窄，并且可以以低姿态扩展到所需的形状。该系统提供了新一代的体内腔空间维持器、支架和扩张器。主要的价值主张是保证支架的保留。该设备包含智能算法，可以感知系统的状态（角度、负载），并在局部激活它们，以实现所需的时空支持。这些算法在嵌入式处理器中实时运行。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project includes smart algorithm-driven superior stents for use in Urology, Gastrointestinal surgery, ENT surgery and Neurosurgery. Patients suffering from malignant obstruction, benign biliary strictures, biliary leaks, bile duct stones, transplants, pancreatic strictures due to malignancy, pancreatic fistulae, chronic pancreatitis, and pancreas divisum would potentially benefit from this technology. Almost 112,000 people are treated for these conditions every year in the U.S. The invention is expected to significantly improve performance over currently used plastic/teflon based stents and also augment functionality on many fronts.This I-Corps project will focus on assessing the market requirements to refine the design of a novel Multi-Axis Deformable Sensor/Actuator that is based on the principle of tensegrity. It offers a lightweight actuator system with 6 degrees of freedom of manipulation. This provides the opportunity to create 3-dimensional structures that can be delivered to a desired anatomical/surgical site in the human body for the purpose of repairing strictures, in a low profile and can be expanded to the desired shape. This system offers a new generation of intra-body luminal space maintainers, stents, and expanders. The main value proposition is guaranteed stent retention. The device involves smart algorithms that sense the states (angles, loads) of the system and locally activates them to achieve a desired spatio-temporal support. These algorithms are run in real-time, in embedded processor.