Creating an artificial muscle has been one of the grand challenges of science and engineering. The invention of such a flexible, versatile, and power efficient actuator opens the gate for a new ...generation of lightweight, highly efficient, and multifunctional robotics. Many current artificial muscle technologies enable low-power mobile actuators, robots that mimic efficient and natural forms of motion, autonomous robots and sensors, and lightweight wearable technologies. They also have serious applications in biomedical devices, where biocompatibility, from a chemical, flexibility, and force perspective, is crucial. It remains unknown which material will ultimately form the ideal artificial muscle. Anything from shape memory alloys (SMAs) to pneumatics to electroactive polymers (EAPs) realize core aspects of the artificial muscle goal. Among them, EAPs most resemble their biological counterparts, and they encompass both ion-infusion and electric field based actuation mechanisms. Some of the most investigated EAPs are dielectric elastomers (DEs), whose large strains, fracture toughness, and power-to-weight ratios compare favorably with natural muscle. Although dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) only entered the artificial muscle conversation in the last 20 years, significant technological progress has reflected their high potential. Research has focused on solving the core issues surrounding DEAs, which includes improving their operational ranges with regard to temperature and voltage, adding new functionality to the materials, and improving the reliability of the components on which they depend. Mechanisms designed to utilize their large-strain actuation and low stiffness has also attracted attention. This Account covers important research by our group and others in various avenues such as decreasing viscoelastic losses in typical DE materials, increasing their dielectric constant, and countering electromechanical instability. We also discuss variable stiffness polymers, specifically bistable electroactive polymers, which, notably, open DEAs to structural applications typically unattainable for soft-actuator technologies. Furthermore, we explore advancements related to highly compliant and transparent electrodes, a crucial component of DEAs capable of achieving high actuation strain. We then cover noteworthy applications, including several novel devices for soft robotics and microfluidics, and how those applications fit within other major developments in the field. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of the remaining challenges facing current DEA technology and speculate on research directions that may further advance DE-based artificial muscles as a whole. This Account serves as a stepping stone into the field of EAPs, which, through the work of researchers worldwide, are positioned as a potential challenger to conventional actuator technologies.
Flexible endoscopes have been widely adopted in clinical practices, which enable surgeons to observe the inside of the body through natural orifices. However, observing lesions inside the narrow ...space of the human sinus with existing flexible endoscopes is still challenging due to their large occupied motion space and limited dexterity. In this article, we propose a dexterous hybrid-structure hand-held robotic endoscope (HHRE) for sinus inspection, which composes of a two degrees-of-freedom (DOFs) proximal flexible section and a two-DOF distal articulated wrist structure. Compared with conventional hand-held flexible sinus endoscopes, the proposed HHRE has a larger visual coverage inside the maxillary sinus and smaller occupied motion space due to the two-DOF wrist structure. Our specially designed flexible section and distal articulated wrist structure offer enhanced torsional stiffness to minimize unpredictable view rotations during the diagnostic inspection. The HHRE can be used as a standalone hand-held device or installed on a robotic platform with gravitational force compensation to minimize surgeon's fatigue and improve the usability of the endoscope. Various benchtop experiments and a user study have been performed to validate the effectiveness, reachability, and visual coverage of the HHRE in the maxillary sinus. The user study results show that the proposed platform can potentially improve the usability of the endoscope and reduce surgeons' workload in performing inspections of the maxillary sinus.
Robots that Talk and Listen Markowitz, Judith; Andrist, Sean; Bugmann, Guido ...
2014, 2015-01-01, 2014-12-12
eBook
The book provides a forward-looking examination of speech and language in robots from technical, functional, and social perspectives.Contributors address cultural foundations as well as the ...linguistic skills and technical features robots need for engaging in a dialogue.
Robot-assisted technologies are overcoming the limitations of the current approaches for transoral surgeries, which are suffering from limited vision and workspace. As a result, we develop a novel ...teleoperated parallel continuum robot with variable stiffness for collision avoidance. This paper focuses on the feasibility study on a cadaveric model for the robotic system as a first trial. We introduce the configuration of the robotic system, the description of the processes of the trial, including the setting of the robotic system, the test of stiffness, and the action of the manipulation. The contact force between the manipulators with different stiffness and the surrounding tissues and a series of surgical operations of the manipulator, including grasping, cutting, pushing, and pulling tissues under the master-slave control mode, were recorded and analyzed. Experimental results suggest that the typical surgical procedure on a cadaveric model was successfully performed. Moreover, the efficacy and feasibility of the developed robotic system are verified to satisfy the requirements of transoral robotic surgery (TORS).
Graphical abstract
Background
To explore cross‐sectional and longitudinal differences in general health‐related and prostate cancer‐specific quality of life (QoL) after robotic‐assisted (RARP) and laparoscopic (LRP) ...radical prostatectomy and to analyze predictive variables for QoL outcomes.
Methods
In this multicenter, randomized controlled trial, prostate cancer patients were randomly assigned 3:1 to undergo either RARP or LRP. Patient‐reported outcomes were prospectively collected before and 1, 3, 6, 12 months after radical prostatectomy and included QoL as a secondary outcome. Validated questionnaires were used to assess general health‐related (EORTC QLQ‐C30) and prostate cancer‐specific (QLQ‐PR25) QoL. Cross‐sectional and longitudinal contrasts were analyzed through linear mixed models. Predictive variables for QoL outcomes were identified by general linear modeling.
Results
Of 782 randomized patients, QoL was evaluable in 681 patients. In terms of general QoL, the cross‐sectional analysis showed only small differences between study arms, whereas longitudinal comparison indicated an advantage of RARP on recovery: RARP patients reported an earlier return to baseline in global health status (3 vs. 6 months) and social functioning (6 vs. 12 months). In role functioning, only the RARP arm regained baseline scores. Regarding prostate‐specific QoL, LRP patients experienced more urinary symptoms and reported 3.2 points (95% confidence interval 0.4–6, p = 0.024) higher mean scores at 1‐month follow‐up and in mean 2.9 points (0.1–5, p = 0.042) higher urinary symptoms scores at 3‐month follow‐up than RARP patients. There were no other significant differences between treatment groups. Urinary symptoms, sexual activity, and sexual function remained significantly worse compared with baseline at all time points in both arms.
Conclusions
Compared with LRP, the robotic approach led to an earlier return to baseline in several domains of general health‐related QoL and better short‐term recovery of urinary symptoms. Predictive variables such as the scale‐specific baseline status and bilateral nerve‐sparing were confirmed.
Designing collective behaviors for robot swarms is a difficult endeavor due to their fully distributed, highly redundant, and ever-changing nature. To overcome the challenge, a few approaches have ...been proposed, which can be classified as manual, semi-automatic, or automatic design. This paper is intended to be the manifesto of the automatic off-line design for robot swarms. We define the off-line design problem and illustrate it via a possible practical realization, highlight the core research questions, raise a number of issues regarding the existing literature that is relevant to the automatic off-line design, and provide guidelines that we deem necessary for a healthy development of the domain and for ensuring its relevance to potential real-world applications.
This systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to compare the accuracy of component positioning, alignment and balancing techniques employed, patient-reported outcomes, and complications of ...robotic-arm assisted total knee arthroplasty (RATKA) with manual TKA (mTKA) and the associated learning curve. Searches of PubMed, Medline and Google Scholar were performed in October 2020 using PRISMA guidelines. Search terms included “robotic”, “knee” and “arthroplasty”. The criteria for inclusion were published clinical research articles reporting the learning curve for RATKA and those comparing the component position accuracy, alignment and balancing techniques, functional outcomes, or complications with mTKA. There were 198 articles identified, following full text screening, 16 studies satisfied the inclusion criteria and reported the learning curve of rTKA (
n
=5), component positioning accuracy (
n
=6), alignment and balancing techniques (
n
=7), functional outcomes (
n
=7), or complications (
n
=5). Two studies reported the learning curve using CUSUM analysis to establish an inflexion point for proficiency which ranged from 7 to 11 cases and there was no learning curve for component positioning accuracy. The meta-analysis showed a significantly lower difference between planned component position and implanted component position, and the spread was narrower for RATKA compared with the mTKA group (Femur coronal: mean 1.31, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.08–1.55,
p
<0.00001; Tibia coronal: mean 1.56, 95% CI 1.32–1.81,
p
<0.00001). Three studies reported using different alignment and balancing techniques between mTKA and RATKA, two studies used the same for both group and two studies did not state the methods used in their RATKA groups. RATKA resulted in better Knee Society Score compared to mTKA in the short-to-mid-term follow up (95%CI − 1.23, − 0.51,
p
=0.004). There was no difference in arthrofibrosis, superficial and deep infection, wound dehiscence, or overall complication rates. RATKA demonstrated improved accuracy of component positioning and patient-reported outcomes. The learning curve of RATKA for operating time was between 7 and 11 cases. Future well-powered studies on RATKAs should report on the knee alignment and balancing techniques utilised to enable better comparisons on which techniques maximise patient outcomes.
Level of evidence
III.
•Increased robot adoption is linked with higher income inequality in both economies.•Increased robot use improves labor productivity and total employment in developed countries.•Increased robot use ...is related to a lower labour share of GDP in developing economies.•Both male and female workers benefit from robot adoption in developed economies.•In developing countries, only the well-educated workforce enjoys the diffusion of robots.
This paper investigates the impact of industrial robot adoption on inclusive growth based on labour market evidence from a cross-country panel dataset of 74 economies between 2004 and 2016. It finds that the adoption of industrial robots is associated with significant gains in labour productivity and total employment in developed economies, while such effects are insignificant in developing countries. Increased robot adoption is related to a significantly lower labour share of GDP in developing economies but not in developed countries. Overall, in both developed and developing economies, increased robot adoption is linked with significantly higher income inequality, although there is no evidence of technological unemployment. Furthermore, the employment of both male and female workers is positively associated with the adoption of industrial robots in developed economies, although females benefit slightly more. In developing countries, however, only those with middle or advanced levels of education benefit from the diffusion of robots.
This article introduces the analysis and control of a meso-scale two degree-of-freedom robotic endoscopic tool body for minimally invasive surgeries. The design of the robotic tool uses two types of ...a tendon-driven joint known as a bending flexure joint that allows us to control each degree-of-freedom by minimizing interjoint coupling by design. Pure kinematic modeling and control for these robots may not provide precise control performance due to kinematic uncertainties arising from tendon elongation, tendon slacking, gear backlash, etc. We propose a static model for each of the joints of the robotic tool that avoids several of these problems. Depending on the direction of tendon tension application, the proximal joint displays considerable hysteresis due to the superelastic material characteristics and this is included in our static model. The statics of a highly compliant distal joint is also modeled and validated using finite element analysis and experimental data. Using these models, we develop a control system that comprises of a disturbance observer and the proposed static model to provide precise force control and compensate for joint hysteresis.
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