I-Corps: Fabricating cable-driven robots

这个I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是与医生一起开发和生产用于临床环境的生物医学机器人设备的潜力。在美国，紧急剖腹产手术率已经上升，现有的分娩难产的替代方案，如产钳，已经不受欢迎。目前的产钳需要广泛的培训，使用真空吸引器，在高达34%的情况下无法产生阴道分娩，以及紧急剖腹产手术，如果在第二产程延长后进行，则是有害的。该团队的目标是使用灵活、自主的产钳减少分娩并发症。生物医学工程在为许多外科手术创造新型仪器方面取得了长足的进步，但在用于分娩过程的工具方面缺乏设计创新。医疗机器人技术的应用可以挽救生命并简化整个分娩过程。I-Corps项目基于开发一种新型制造工艺，将机器人特征建模和3D打印为单件，包括所有弹性，非弹性和导电元件，包括机器人的身体，执行器和传感器。机器人可以利用复杂环境中的灵活性来吸收外部的意外力量，同时保持牢固地操纵物体的能力。开发的制造方法可以实现可定制的方法来创建生物启发的自主系统，提高与医疗环境中的人互动时的安全性，舒适性和有效性。此外，一步制造的创新适用于人机交互应用，因为它为设计师提供了创建迭代原型的轻松性和可重复性，同时仍然足够强大，可以用于最终产品的生产。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the potential to work alongside medical doctors to develop and produce a biomedical robotic device for clinical settings. Emergency Cesarean section (C-section) surgery rates in the United States have grown and existing alternative solutions to cases of labor dystocia, like obstetrical forceps, have gone out of favor. Current obstetrical forceps demand extensive training, the use of vacuum extractors that fail to produce a vaginal delivery in up to 34% of cases, and emergency C-section surgeries that are harmful if performed after a prolonged second stage of labor. The team aims reduce delivery complications using flexible, autonomous, obstetrical forceps. Biomedical engineering has made great strides in creating novel instrumentation for numerous surgical procedures, yet the push for design innovation in tools used for the child birthing process is lacking. This application of medical robotics may save lives and ease the overall process of childbirth.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a novel fabrication process to model and 3D print robotic features as a single piece, including all elastic, inelastic, and conductive elements that comprise the robot’s body, actuators, and sensors. Robots can leverage flexibility in complex environments to absorb external, unexpected forces while maintaining the ability to manipulate objects firmly. The developed fabrication method enables a customizable approach to creating biologically-inspired autonomous systems, improving safety, comfort, and efficacy when interacting with people in medical settings. Further, the innovation of one-step fabrication works well for human interaction applications because it offers designers ease and reproducibility in creating iterative prototypes while still being robust enough to use for the production of the final product.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.