Compliant Underwater Manipulator with Integrated Tactile Sensor for Nonlinear Force Feedback Control of an SMA Actuation System.

Design, sensing, and control of underwater gripping systems remain challenges for soft robotic manipulators. Our study investigates these critical issues by designing a shape memory alloy (SMA) actuation system for a soft robotic finger with a directly 3D-printed stretchable skin-like tactile sensor. SMA actuators were thermomechanically trained to assume a curved finger-like shape when Joule heated, and the flexible multi-layered tactile sensor was directly 3D-printed onto the surface of the fingertip. A nonlinear controller was developed to enable precise fingertip force control using feedback from the compliant tactile sensor. Underwater experiments were conducted using closed-loop force feedback from the directly 3D-printed tactile sensor with the SMA actuators, showing satisfactory force tracking ability. Furthermore, a 3D finite element model was developed to more deeply understand the shape memory thermal-fluidic-structural multi-physics simulation of the manipulator underwater. An application for human control via electromyogram (EMG) signals also demonstrated an intuitive way for a person to operate the submerged robotic finger. Together, these results suggested that the soft robotic finger could be used to carefully manipulate fragile objects underwater.

Engineered Airway Models to Study Liquid Plug Splitting at Bifurcations: Effects of Orientation and Airway Size.

Delivery of biological fluids, such as surfactant solutions, into lungs is a major strategy to treat respiratory disorders including respiratory distress syndrome that is caused by insufficient or dysfunctional natural lung surfactant. The instilled solution forms liquid plugs in lung airways. The plugs propagate downstream in airways by inspired air or ventilation, continuously split at airway bifurcations to smaller daughter plugs, simultaneously lose mass from their trailing menisci, and eventually rupture. A uniform distribution of the instilled biofluid in lung airways is expected to increase the treatments success. The uniformity of distribution of instilled liquid in the lungs greatly depends on the splitting of liquid plugs between daughter airways, especially in the first few generations from which airways of different lobes of lungs emerge. To mechanistically understand this process, we developed a bioengineering approach to computationally design three-dimensional bifurcating airway models using morphometric data of human lungs, fabricate physical models, and examine dynamics of liquid plug splitting. We found that orientation of bifurcating airways has a major effect on the splitting of liquid plugs between daughter airways. Changing the relative gravitational orientation of daughter tubes with respect to the horizontal plane caused a more asymmetric splitting of liquid plugs. Increasing the propagation speed of plugs partially counteracted this effect. Using airway models of smaller dimensions reduced the asymmetry of plug splitting. This work provides a step toward developing delivery strategies for uniform distribution of therapeutic fluids in the lungs.

A Three-Dimensional Model of Human Lung Airway Tree to Study Therapeutics Delivery in the Lungs.

Surfactant instillation into the lungs is used to treat several respiratory disorders such as neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (NRDS). The success of the treatments significantly depends on the uniformity of distribution of the instilled surfactant in airways. This is challenging to directly evaluate due to the inaccessibility of lung airways and great difficulty with imaging them. To tackle this problem, we developed a 3D physical model of human lung airway tree. Using a defined set of principles, we first generated computational models of eight generations of neonates' tracheobronchial tree comprising the conducting zone airways. Similar to native lungs, these models contained continuously-branching airways that rotated in the 3D space and reduced in size with increase in the generation number. Then, we used additive manufacturing to generate physical airway tree models that precisely replicated the computational designs. We demonstrated the utility of the physical models to study surfactant delivery in the lungs and showed the effect of orientation of the airway tree in the gravitational field on the distribution of instilled surfactant between the left and right lungs and within each lung. Our 3D lung airway tree model offers a novel tool for quantitative studies of therapeutics delivery.

An MRI-Compatible Hydrodynamic Simulator of Cerebrospinal Fluid Motion in the Cervical Spine.

GOAL: Develop and test an MRI-compatible hydrodynamic simulator of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) motion in the cervical spinal subarachnoid space. Four anatomically realistic subject-specific models were created based on a 22-year-old healthy volunteer and a five-year-old patient diagnosed with Chiari I malformation. METHODS: The in vitro models were based on manual segmentation of high-resolution T2-weighted MRI of the cervical spine. Anatomically realistic dorsal and ventral spinal cord nerve rootlets (NR) were added. Models were three dimensional (3-D) printed by stereolithography with 50-µm layer thickness. A computer controlled pump system was used to replicate the shape of the subject specific in vivo CSF flow measured by phase-contrast MRI. Each model was then scanned by T2-weighted and 4-D phase contrast MRI (4D flow). RESULTS: Cross-sectional area, wetted perimeter, and hydraulic diameter were quantified for each model. The oscillatory CSF velocity field (flow jets near NR, velocity profile shape, and magnitude) had similar characteristics to previously reported studies in the literature measured by in vivo MRI. CONCLUSION: This study describes the first MRI-compatible hydrodynamic simulator of CSF motion in the cervical spine with anatomically realistic NR. NR were found to impact CSF velocity profiles to a great degree. SIGNIFICANCE: CSF hydrodynamics are thought to be altered in craniospinal disorders such as Chiari I malformation. MRI scanning techniques and protocols can be used to quantify CSF flow alterations in disease states. The provided in vitro models can be used to test the reliability of these protocols across MRI scanner manufacturers and machines.

Anthropomorphic finger antagonistically actuated by SMA plates.

Most robotic applications that contain shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators use the SMA in a linear or spring shape. In contrast, a novel robotic finger was designed in this paper using SMA plates that were thermomechanically trained to take the shape of a flexed human finger when Joule heated. This flexor actuator was placed in parallel with an extensor actuator that was designed to straighten when Joule heated. Thus, alternately heating and cooling the flexor and extensor actuators caused the finger to flex and extend. Three different NiTi based SMA plates were evaluated for their ability to apply forces to a rigid and compliant object. The best of these three SMAs was able to apply a maximum fingertip force of 9.01N on average. A 3D CAD model of a human finger was used to create a solid model for the mold of the finger covering skin. Using a 3D printer, inner and outer molds were fabricated to house the actuators and a position sensor, which were assembled using a multi-stage casting process. Next, a nonlinear antagonistic controller was developed using an outer position control loop with two inner MOSFET current control loops. Sine and square wave tracking experiments demonstrated minimal errors within the operational bounds of the finger. The ability of the finger to recover from unexpected disturbances was also shown along with the frequency response up to 7 rad s(-1). The closed loop bandwidth of the system was 6.4 rad s(-1) when operated intermittently and 1.8 rad s(-1) when operated continuously.