Dynamic Augmentation of Left Ventricle and Mitral Valve Function With an Implantable Soft Robotic Device.

Left ventricular failure is strongly associated with secondary mitral valve regurgitation. Implantable soft robotic devices are an emerging technology that enables augmentation of a native function of a target tissue. We demonstrate the ability of a novel soft robotic ventricular assist device to dynamically augment left ventricular contraction, provide native pulsatile flow, simultaneously reshape the mitral valve apparatus, and eliminate the associated regurgitation in an Short-term large animal model of acute left ventricular systolic dysfunction.

Multilayer Dielectric Elastomers for Fast, Programmable Actuation without Prestretch.

A novel method for the fabrication of dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) combines acrylic polymers and single wall carbon nanotube network electrodes. DEAs made using this technique do not require prestretching, have extremely thin electrodes, and can be actuated at low voltage. The method is applied to create a multimorph device with nine actuation modes based on just four inputs.