Special Issue "Soft Robots in Medical Applications"

A special issue of Actuators (ISSN 2076-0825). This special issue belongs to the section "Actuators for Robotics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 December 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Hang Su
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32, 20133 Milano MI, Italy
Interests: medical robot; modelling and control; soft robot; teleoperation
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Dr. Jing Guo
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Automation, Guangdong University of Technology, Panyu District, Guangzhou, China
Interests: surgical robotics; robot-tissue interaction; teleoperation; modelling and control
Dr. Isuru S. Godage
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Computing, College of Computing and Digital Media (CDM), DePaul University, Chicago, IL 60614, USA
Interests: soft robot; medical robot; modelling and control
Dr. Yue Chen
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA
Interests: soft robot; medical robot; image-guided therapy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Soft robotics are robotic systems made of materials that are similar in softness to human soft tissues. Recent technological developments have led to the widespread use of soft robotics systems in a broad range of medical applications, including rehabilitation, surgery, and diagnosis. In order to further advance soft robotic systems in medical applications, it is crucial to understand the current achievements and the technical challenges remaining for soft robots. Hence, this Special Issue intends to gather world-class researchers to present state-of-the-art research achievements and advances that contribute to soft robotics techniques in medical applications.

Dr. Hang Su
Dr. Jing Guo
Dr. Isuru S. Godage
Dr. Yue Chen
Guest Editors

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 papers will be 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. Actuators 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 1600 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 robot modeling and simulation
  • soft robot control, soft sensors and soft actuators, soft electronics
  • soft/flexible materials and structures
  • soft robot–human interface
  • soft robot applications in the medical field
  • tissue engineering and biological actuation
  • mechanical intelligence of soft materials
  • sensing techniques for soft systems
  • optimizing soft actuator design and control
  • soft robot systems

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Article
A Novel Design of Water-Activated Variable Stiffness Endoscopic Manipulator with Safe Thermal Insulation
Actuators 2021, 10(6), 130; https://doi.org/10.3390/act10060130 - 13 Jun 2021
Viewed by 577
Abstract
In natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES), an ideal endoscope platform should be flexible and dexterous enough to go through the natural orifices to access the lesion site inside the human body, and meanwhile provide sufficient rigidity to serve as a base for [...] Read more.
In natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES), an ideal endoscope platform should be flexible and dexterous enough to go through the natural orifices to access the lesion site inside the human body, and meanwhile provide sufficient rigidity to serve as a base for the end-effectors to operate during the surgical tasks. However, the conventional endoscope has limited ability for maintaining high rigidity over the length of the body. This paper presents a novel design of a variable stiffness endoscopic manipulator. By using a new bioplastic named FORMcard, whose stiffness can be thermally adjusted, water at different temperatures is employed to switch the manipulator between rigid mode and flexible mode. A biocompatible microencapsulated phase change material (MEPCM) with latent heat storage properties is adopted as the thermal insulation for better safety. Experiments are conducted to test the concept design, and the validated advantages of our proposed variable stiffness endoscopic manipulator include: shorter mode activation time (25 s), significantly improved stiffness in rigid mode (547.9–926.3 N·cm2) and larger stiffness-adjusting ratio (23.9–25.1 times). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soft Robots in Medical Applications)
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Article
Modeling and Fabrication of Soft Actuators Based on Fiber-Reinforced Elastomeric Enclosures
Actuators 2021, 10(6), 127; https://doi.org/10.3390/act10060127 - 09 Jun 2021
Viewed by 593
Abstract
Unlike rigid actuators, soft actuators can easily adapt to complex environments. Understanding the relationship between the deformation of soft actuators and external factors such as pressure would enable rapid designs based on specific requirements, such as flexible, compliant endoscopes. An effective model is [...] Read more.
Unlike rigid actuators, soft actuators can easily adapt to complex environments. Understanding the relationship between the deformation of soft actuators and external factors such as pressure would enable rapid designs based on specific requirements, such as flexible, compliant endoscopes. An effective model is demonstrated that predicts the deformation of a soft actuator based on the virtual work principle and the geometrically exact Cosserat rod theory. The deformation process is analyzed for extension, bending, and twisting modules. A new manufacturing method is then introduced. Through any combination of modules, the soft actuator can have a greater workspace and more dexterity. The proposed model was verified for various fiber-reinforced elastomeric enclosures. There is good agreement between the model analysis and the experimental data, which indicates the effectiveness of the model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soft Robots in Medical Applications)
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Article
Control of a Rehabilitation Robotic Device Driven by Antagonistic Soft Actuators
Actuators 2021, 10(6), 123; https://doi.org/10.3390/act10060123 - 07 Jun 2021
Viewed by 633
Abstract
Stroke is becoming a widely concerned social problem, and robot-assisted devices have made considerable contributions in the training and treatment of rehabilitation. Due to the compliance and continuous deformation capacity, rehabilitation devices driven by soft actuators are attached to widespread attention. Considering the [...] Read more.
Stroke is becoming a widely concerned social problem, and robot-assisted devices have made considerable contributions in the training and treatment of rehabilitation. Due to the compliance and continuous deformation capacity, rehabilitation devices driven by soft actuators are attached to widespread attention. Considering the large output force of pneumatic artificial muscle (PAM) and the biological musculoskeletal structure, an antagonistic PAM-driven rehabilitation robotic device is developed. To fulfill the need for control of the proposed device, a knowledge-guided data-driven modeling approach is used and an adaptive feedforward–feedback control approach is presented to ensure the motion accuracy under large deformation motion with high frequency. Finally, several simulations and experiments are carried out to evaluate the performance of the developed system, and the results show that the developed system with the proposed controller can achieve expected control performance under various operations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soft Robots in Medical Applications)
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