Evaluation of the Electroglottographic Signal Variability in Organic and Functional Dysphonia.

Objectives: To confirm the data reported in our previous studies on the analysis of the variability of the electroglottographic signal in the pathological voice; to evaluate possible differences in variability between organic and functional pathologies; to identify any distinctive/typical EGG patterns for these pathologies.

Methods: One hundred twenty-five subjects were enrolled (36 euphonic and 89 pathological: 24 functional dysphonia, 21 bilateral vocal nodules, 23 unilateral polyps and 21 unilateral cysts). All subjects were studied with videolaryngostroboscopy, spectrographic analysis of voice and electroglottography (EGG).

Fiber Jamming Transition as a Stiffening Mechanism for Soft Robotics.

Robots made of soft materials are demonstrating to be well suited in applications where dexterity and intrinsic safety are necessary. However, one of the most challenging goals of soft robotics remains the ability to change the stiffness of body parts to guarantee stability and to produce significant forces. Among soft actuation technologies reported in literature, the jamming phenomenon is now achieving resounding interest.

Toward a Variable Stiffness Surgical Manipulator Based on Fiber Jamming Transition.

Soft robots have proved to represent a new frontier for the development of intelligent machines able to show new capabilities that can complement those currently performed by robots based on rigid materials. One of the main application areas where this shift is promising an impact is minimally invasive surgery. In previous works, the STFF-FLOP soft manipulator has been introduced as a new concept of using soft materials to develop endoscopic tools.

Learning Closed Loop Kinematic Controllers for Continuum Manipulators in Unstructured Environments.

This article introduces a machine-learning-based approach for closed loop kinematic control of continuum manipulators in the task space. For this purpose, we propose a unique formulation for learning the inverse kinematics of a continuum manipulator while integrating end-effector feedback. We demonstrate that this model-free approach for kinematic control is very well suited for nonlinear stochastic continuum robots.

Design and development of a bio-inspired, under-actuated soft gripper.

The development of robotic devices able to perform manipulation tasks mimicking the human hand has been assessed on large scale. This work stands in the challenging scenario where soft materials are combined with bio-inspired design in order to develop soft grippers with improved grasping and holding capabilities. We are going to show a low-cost, under-actuated and adaptable soft gripper, highlighting the design and the manufacturing process.