8 accepted papers
Continuum robots offer many advantages for use in miniature diagnostic and interventional surgical devices. However, the creation of snake-like devices with extremely high slenderness ratios, those with great length and small diameter, remains challenging from a device design perspective. To facilit
We propose a new method for improving the stability of concentric tube robots. Prior work sought to improve stability through laser-cut patterns that reduced <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$EI/GJ$</
Deep reinforcement learning (DRL) techniques have been successful in several domains, such as physical simulations, computer games, and simulated robotic tasks, yet the transfer of these successful learning concepts from simulations into the real world scenarios remains still a challenge. In this le
In the last decade, researchers and medical device companies have made major advances towards transforming passive capsule endoscopes into active medical robots. One of the major challenges is to endow capsule robots with accurate perception of the environment inside the human body, which will provi…
Shape setting Nitinol tubes and wires in a typical laboratory setting for use in superelastic robots is challenging. Obtaining samples that remain superelastic and exhibit desired precurvatures currently requires many iterations, which is time consuming and consumes a substantial amount of Nitinol.
Concentric tube robots are thin, tentacle-like devices that can move along curved paths and can potentially enable new, less invasive surgical procedures. Safe and effective operation of this type of robot requires that the robot's shaft avoid sensitive anatomical structures (e.g., critical vessels…
The needle-sized surgical tools used in arthroscopy, otolaryngology, and other surgical fields could become even more valuable to surgeons if endowed with the ability to navigate around sharp corners to manipulate or visualize tissue. We present a needle-sized wrist design that grants this ability.…
In designing concentric tube robots, it is often desirable to use curvatures that are as high as possible. However, with high curvatures comes the potential for elastic instabilities. This can be addressed by motion planning or by designing the robot to preclude the possibility of instability. In th…