Adaptive control of a soft pneumatic actuator using experimental characterization data.

Fiber reinforced soft pneumatic actuators are hard to control due to their non-linear behavior and non-uniformity introduced by the fabrication process. Model-based controllers generally have difficulty compensating non-uniform and non-linear material behaviors, whereas model-free approaches are harder to interpret and tune intuitively. In this study, we present the design, fabrication, characterization, and control of a fiber reinforced soft pneumatic module with an outer diameter size of 12 mm.

A Novel Asymmetric Pneumatic Soft-Surgical Endoscope Design with Laminar Jamming.

Soft pneumatic endoscopes developed for Minimally Invasive Surgeries (MIS) are designed upright which means that the starting positions straight. As the internal chambers are pressurized the endoscopic module starts bending. The relation between the pneumatic pressure and bending is nonlinear as the air needs first to fill the chamber before bending, and additionally frictional interaction to the sheath adds more to this start-up transient behaviour.

Toward reliable automatic liver and tumor segmentation using convolutional neural network based on 2.5D models.

Purpose: We investigated the parameter configuration in the automatic liver and tumor segmentation using a convolutional neural network based on 2.5D model. The implementation of 2.

The implications of non-anatomical positioning of a meniscus prosthesis on predicted human knee joint biomechanics.

Despite all the efforts to optimize the meniscus prosthesis system (geometry, material, and fixation type), the success of the prosthesis in clinical practice will depend on surgical factors such as intra-operative positioning of the prosthesis. In this study, the aim was therefore to assess the implications of positional changes of the medial meniscus prosthesis for knee biomechanics. A detailed validated finite element (FE) model of human intact and meniscal implanted knees was developed based on a series of in vitro experiments.

A novel approach for optimal graft positioning and tensioning in anterior cruciate ligament reconstructive surgery based on the finite element modeling technique.

Background: In ACL-reconstructed patients the postoperative knee biomechanics may differ from the intact knee biomechanical behavior which can alter knee kinematics and kinetics, and as a result lead to the progression of knee osteoarthritis. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the potential of finite element models to define the optimal choices in surgical parameters in terms of optimal graft positioning in combination with graft type in order to restore the kinematic and kinetic behavior of the knee as best as possible.

Methods: A workflow was proposed based on cadaveric experiments in order to restore the injured knee to a near normal physiological condition.

A review on recent advances in soft surgical robots for endoscopic applications.

Background: Soft materials, with their compliant properties, enable conformity and safe interaction with human body. With the advance in actuation and sensing of soft materials, new paradigm in robotics called "soft robotics" emerges. Soft robotics has become a new approach in designing medical devices such as wearable robotic gloves and exoskeleton.

A noninvasive MRI based approach to estimate the mechanical properties of human knee ligaments.

Characterization of the main tibiofemoral ligaments is an essential step in developing patient-specific computational models of the knee joint for personalized surgery pre-planning. Tensile tests are commonly performed in-vitro to characterize the mechanical stiffness and rupture force of the knee ligaments which makes the technique unsuitable for in-vivo application. The time required for the limited noninvasive approaches for properties estimation based on knee laxity remained the main obstacle in clinical implementation.