Pitt develops robot that vapes to study health impacts of e-cigarettes – NEXTpittsburgh

The future is here, and its a robot that vapes.

Science fiction promised us robots that can do housework, fight wars and recycle our trash, but this may be the weirdest robo-task.

Of course, studying vaping is actually quite important. In Pennsylvania alone, one in four high school students has vaped in the past 30 days.

Much of whats in the liquid e-cigarette mixes is unknown, and constantly changing. For example, theres a DIY-eJuice Reddit page with 70,000 members (many in their teens), who share their recipes for flavors ranging from peanut butter to stroopwafel. Even nicotine-free vaping mixtures can feature compounds that damage the lungs.

So, enter the vaping robot.

Researchers at Pitt led by Dr. Kambez Benam, a visiting associate professor of medicine, have created a robotic simulator for the lungs and associated systems. The robot can study how different vaping mixtures impact what a person inhales, and how it contributes to the vapors toxicity in the body.

Dr. Kambez Benam is an associate professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.

The details about the systems design were published in the scientific journal iScience this week. The technology is owned by Pneumax, LLC.

The idea comes from this mystery lung disease that came around about two years ago, where people were going into hospitals and they dont know exactly whats happening, says Benam. And then they found out they had a vaping history; they were smoking electronic cigarettes. And then the more kind of insight into that came that they were smoking electronic cigarettes that had Vitamin E Acetate and cannabinoid products, like THC, etc.

So when this happened, we thought, OK, what if we try to develop a system that we can actually predict when theres a modification or change into an electronic cigarette, to see what happens Basically, can we get insight into potential toxicity of these products.

You cant just play around with adding and subtracting different vape juice combinations and test it on people, so Benams team at Pitt built a device that would simulate possible impacts of various e-liquid combinations without needing clinical subjects.

Heres what theyve learned so far, according to Benam:

Dont assume that if something is safe to take orally or put on the skin, like Vitamin E Acetate, is safe to inhale. Its not the case.

Electronic cigarettes are harmful. Theyre not safe.

We need to have better ways to understand all these new products that come into market, what potential they have to cause damage to us particularly people in middle school, high school and younger kids.

The robot combines multiple components to accurately simulate the breathing pattern of a person who vapes an e-cigarette and vaping behavior.

Vaping is being studied across the country. In 2009, President Obama established the Center for Tobacco Products within the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), whose purview was expanded to cover any electronic nicotine delivery system. Benams robot is supported by funding from the FDA.

Thats not to say that its easy for the government to keep up.

Its a field thats evolving, so it can change almost on a day-to-day basis, says Benam. For us as investigators and scientists, were interested to understand not just the regulatory aspect, but also the biology, the pathology, the disease aspect of exposure.

Benam has lived on three continents, and has degrees from Newcastle University and Oxford University in England, and attended Harvard Medical School and the University of Colorado before landing at Pitt.

The robotic system is quite complex, regulating and measuring everything from inhalation and exhalation to the humidity present in the human body.

It creates fresh vapor from electronic cigarettes, diluted with normal air that you would otherwise have inhaled into the lungs, mimics the rib cage so your lungs go in and out, says Benam. And then at the end of it, it has sensors that can measure what sort of particles have been generated.

So far, hes calling the robot HUMITIPAA, which stands for Human Vaping Mimetic Real-Time Particle Analyzer. (It doesnt exactly roll off the tongue like Vape Bot.)

electronic cigarettesKambez BenampittPneumaxrobot vapesUniversity of Pittsburgh School of Medicinevapingvaping robot

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Pitt develops robot that vapes to study health impacts of e-cigarettes - NEXTpittsburgh