ZodiAq: An Isotropic Flagella-Inspired Soft Underwater Drone for Safe Marine Exploration.

The inherent challenges of robotic underwater exploration, such as hydrodynamic effects, the complexity of dynamic coupling, and the necessity for sensitive interaction with marine life, call for the adoption of soft robotic approaches in marine exploration. To address this, we present a novel prototype, ZodiAq, a soft underwater drone inspired by prokaryotic bacterial flagella. ZodiAq's unique dodecahedral structure, equipped with 12 flagella-like arms, ensures design redundancy and compliance, ideal for navigating complex underwater terrains.

E-Calib: A Fast, Robust, and Accurate Calibration Toolbox for Event Cameras.

Event cameras triggered a paradigm shift in the computer vision community delineated by their asynchronous nature, low latency, and high dynamic range. Calibration of event cameras is always essential to account for the sensor intrinsic parameters and for 3D perception. However, conventional image-based calibration techniques are not applicable due to the asynchronous, binary output of the sensor.

Proprioception and Exteroception of a Soft Robotic Finger Using Neuromorphic Vision-Based Sensing.

Equipping soft robotic grippers with sensing and perception capabilities faces significant challenges due to their high compliance and flexibility, limiting their ability to successfully interact with the environment. In this work, we propose a sensorized soft robotic finger with embedded marker pattern that integrates a high-speed neuromorphic event-based camera to enable finger proprioception and exteroception. A learning-based approach involving a convolutional neural network is developed to process event-based heat maps and achieve specific sensing tasks.

Neuromorphic Camera Denoising Using Graph Neural Network-Driven Transformers.

Neuromorphic vision is a bio-inspired technology that has triggered a paradigm shift in the computer vision community and is serving as a key enabler for a wide range of applications. This technology has offered significant advantages, including reduced power consumption, reduced processing needs, and communication speedups. However, neuromorphic cameras suffer from significant amounts of measurement noise.

Hierarchical Spatiotemporal Graph Regularized Discriminative Correlation Filter for Visual Object Tracking.

Visual object tracking is a fundamental and challenging task in many high-level vision and robotics applications. It is typically formulated by estimating the target appearance model between consecutive frames. Discriminative correlation filters (DCFs) and their variants have achieved promising speed and accuracy for visual tracking in many challenging scenarios.

Neuromorphic Vision Based Contact-Level Classification in Robotic Grasping Applications.

In recent years, robotic sorting is widely used in the industry, which is driven by necessity and opportunity. In this paper, a novel neuromorphic vision-based tactile sensing approach for robotic sorting application is proposed. This approach has low latency and low power consumption when compared to conventional vision-based tactile sensing techniques.

A Proposed Clinical Evaluation of a Simulation Environment for Magnetically-Driven Active Endoscopic Capsules.

Background A simulation environment for magnetically-driven, active endoscopic capsules (Abu-Kheil Y, Seneviratne L, Dias J, A simulation environment for active endoscopic capsules. 2017 IEEE 30th international symposium on Computer Based Medical Systems (CBMS), Thessaloniki, pp 714-719, 2017), can perform four main operations: capsule tele- operation, tracking of a specific region of interest, haptic feedback for capsule navigation and virtual reality navigation.Methods The main operations of the simulation environment can be clinically evaluated.

Additive Manufactured Sandwich Composite/ABS Parts for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Applications.

Fused deposition modelling (FDM) is one of most popular 3D printing techniques of thermoplastic polymers. Nonetheless, the poor mechanical strength of FDM parts restricts the use of this technology in functional parts of many applications such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) where lightweight, high strength, and stiffness are required. In the present paper, the fabrication process of low-density acrylonitrile butadiene styrenecarbon (ABS) with carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) sandwich layers for UAV structure is proposed to improve the poor mechanical strength and elastic modulus of printed ABS.

Modeling, Control, and Numerical Simulations of a Novel Binary-Controlled Variable Stiffness Actuator (BcVSA).

This research work aims at realizing a new compliant robotic actuator for safe human-robotic interaction. In this paper, we present the modeling, control, and numerical simulations of a novel Binary-Controlled Variable Stiffness Actuator (BcVSA) aiming to be used for the development of a novel compliant robotic manipulator. BcVSA is the proof of concept of the active revolute joint with the variable recruitment of series-parallel elastic elements.

Ex vivo study of prostate cancer localization using rolling mechanical imaging towards minimally invasive surgery.

Rolling mechanical imaging (RMI) is a novel technique towards the detection and quantification of malignant tissue in locations that are inaccessible to palpation during robotic minimally invasive surgery (MIS); the approach is shown to achieve results of higher precision than is possible using the human hand. Using a passive robotic manipulator, a lightweight and force sensitive wheeled probe is driven across the surface of tissue samples to collect continuous measurements of wheel-tissue dynamics. A color-coded map is then generated to visualize the stiffness distribution within the internal tissue structure.

Three-Degree-of-Freedom MR-Compatible Multisegment Cardiac Catheter Steering Mechanism.

This paper presents a novel MR-compatible 3-DOF cardiac catheter steering mechanism. The catheter's steerable structure is tendon driven and consists of miniature deflectable, helical segments created by a precise rapid prototyping technique. The created catheter prototype has an outer diameter of 9 Fr (3 mm) and a steerable distal end that can be deflected in a 3-D space via four braided high-tensile Spectra fiber tendons.

Using visual cues to enhance haptic feedback for palpation on virtual model of soft tissue.

This paper explores methods that make use of visual cues aimed at generating actual haptic sensation to the user, namely pseudo-haptics. We propose a new pseudo-haptic feedback-based method capable of conveying 3D haptic information and combining visual haptics with force feedback to enhance the user's haptic experience. We focused on an application related to tumor identification during palpation and evaluated the proposed method in an experimental study where users interacted with a haptic device and graphical interface while exploring a virtual model of soft tissue, which represented stiffness distribution of a silicone phantom tissue with embedded hard inclusions.

Towards kinematic modeling of a multi-DOF tendon driven robotic catheter.

This paper presents a recent study on kinematic modeling of a remote-controlled active catheter. The tip steering motion of the catheter is actuated in a tendon-driven manner. Two antagonistic groups of tendon actuation realize the distal tip deflecting with two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) allowing it to reach a considerable large spatial workspace without catheter shaft rotation.

Bilateral shared autonomous systems with passive and nonpassive input forces under time varying delay.

In this paper, we address stability and tracking control problem of bilateral shared autonomous systems in the presence of passive and nonpassive input interaction forces. The design comprises delayed position and position-velocity signals with the known and unknown structures of the master and slave manipulator dynamics. Using novel Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional, stability and tracking conditions of the coupled master-slave shared autonomous systems are developed under symmetrical and unsymmetrical time varying data transmission delays.

Intra-operative tumour localisation in robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery: A review.

Robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery has many advantages compared to conventional open surgery and also certain drawbacks: it causes less operative trauma and faster recovery times but does not allow for direct tumour palpation as is the case in open surgery. This article reviews state-of-the-art intra-operative tumour localisation methods used in robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery and in particular methods that employ force-based sensing, tactile-based sensing, and medical imaging techniques. The limitations and challenges of these methods are discussed and future research directions are proposed.

Inverse finite-element modeling for tissue parameter identification using a rolling indentation probe.

This paper investigates the use of inverse finite-element modeling (IFEM)-based methods for tissue parameter identification using a rolling indentation probe for surgical palpation. An IFEM-based algorithm is proposed for tissue parameter identification through uniaxial indentation. IFEM-based algorithms are also created for locating and identifying the properties of an embedded tumor through rolling indentation of the soft tissue.

Air-float palpation probe for tissue abnormality identification during minimally invasive surgery.

This paper presents a novel palpation probe based on optical fiber technology. It is designed to measure stiffness distribution of a soft tissue while sliding over the tissue surface in a near frictionless manner. A novelty of the probe is its ability to measure indentation depth for nonplanar tissue profiles which are commonly experienced during surgery.

A stiffness probe based on force and vision sensing for soft tissue diagnosis.

this paper introduces a novel approach of stiffness measurement based on force and vision sensing for tissue diagnosis. The developed probe is mainly composed of a force sensor and an image acquisition unit capable of obtaining contact area of probe-soft tissue interaction. By measuring the change of diameter of contact area during indentation test, the indentation depth can be determined.

Finite-element modeling of soft tissue rolling indentation.

We describe a finite-element (FE) model for simulating wheel-rolling tissue deformations using a rolling FE model (RFEM). A wheeled probe performing rolling tissue indentation has proven to be a promising approach for compensating for the loss of haptic and tactile feedback experienced during robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery (H. Liu, D.

MRI-compatible intensity-modulated force sensor for cardiac catheterization procedures.

This paper presents a novel, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-compatible, force sensor suitable for cardiac catheterization procedures. The miniature, fiber-optic sensor is integrated with the tip of a catheter to allow the detection of interaction forces with the cardiac walls. The optical fiber light intensity is modulated when a force acting at the catheter tip deforms an elastic element, which, in turn, varies the distance between a reflector and the optical fiber.

A comparative study between an improved novel air-cushion sensor and a wheeled probe for minimally invasive surgery.

Purpose: We describe a comparative study between an enhanced air-cushion tactile sensor and a wheeled indentation probe. These laparoscopic tools are designed to rapidly locate soft-tissue abnormalities during minimally invasive surgery (MIS).

Materials And Methods: The air-cushion tactile sensor consists of an optically based sensor with a 7.

A fibre-optic catheter-tip force sensor with MRI compatibility: a feasibility study.

This paper presents the development of a low-cost, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) compatible fibre-optic sensor for integration with catheters allowing the detection of contact forces between blood vessel walls and the catheter tip. Three plastic optical-fibres are aligned inside a plastic catheter in a circular pattern. A reflector is attached to a separate small part of the catheter tip, which is connected with a small deformable material to the aligned optical-fibres.

Rolling mechanical imaging for tissue abnormality localization during minimally invasive surgery.

We describe a novel approach for the localization of tissue abnormalities during minimally invasive surgery using a force-sensitive wheeled probe. The concept is to fuse the kinaesthetic information from the wheel-tissue rolling interaction into a pseudocolor rolling mechanical image (RMI) to visualize the spatial variation of stiffness within the internal tissue structure. Since tissue abnormalities are often firmer than the surrounding organ or parenchyma, a surgeon then can localize abnormalities by analyzing the image.

Air-cushion force-sensitive probe for soft tissue investigation during minimally invasive surgery.

Purpose: We propose a novel air-cushion force-sensitive indentation probe for rapidly locating abnormalities within soft tissues during minimally invasive surgery (MIS).

Method: This system comprises a spherical-tipped optical-based force-sensing device that employs an air-cushion technique to conduct continuous rolling indentation over the surface of soft tissues. The device combines rapid acquisition of tissue resistance forces with high manoeuvrability.