A Colonoscopy Robot and Other Weird Biomedical Tech From IEEE’s Biggest Robotics Conference – IEEE Spectrum

A host of bizarre biomedical robots turned up at ICRA 2017,IEEEs flagship robotics conference, whichtook place earlier this month in Singapore. We saw swallowable robots that poke the stomach with needles and worm-like robots that explore the colon. Equal parts unnerving and fascinating, these bots aim to help peopleperhapsin ways we hope we never need. After sifting throughthis years presentations, werebringing you the five most terrifying and inventive videodemonstrations.

1. Swallowable biopsy robot of doom

This capsule robot innocuouslytumbles around inside your stomachuntil it reaches suspicious-looking tissue. Then, like an EpiPen on steroids, the soft-bodied bot whips out a needle and jabs that spot inside your stomach in ten fast pumping movements. But this swallowable needle doesnt inject anything. Instead, it suctions up samples of tissue that doctors can analyze for signs of cancer or other disease. Then it moves on to other suspicious spots inside the stomachjab, jab jab!

The biopsy technique, calledfine needle aspiration, is typically performed from outside the body. This capsule robot, designed by researchers at the physical intelligence department atMax PlanckInstitute for Intelligent Systems,in Stuttgart, Germany, movesthe technique inside the body. Thanks guys.

Previous swallowable biopsy robotdesigns only scrape at thesurface tissue, they argued at ICRA. Doctors need atool that willreally get in there, and this design will do it.They tested it out on fresh pork fat placed in a plastic human stomach model. The capsule is equipped with a magnet, allowing the researchers to guide the robotsorientation and jabbing motions while inside the stomach. Of course after the job is done,the robot, with tissue sample inside, has to be retrieved. Its inventors suggest pulling it back out of the throat by a tether. Thanks again, guys!

2.Smashable Fingers

Sure you can make an electronic prosthetic hand that is controlled by personsnervous system, but can you make one that can survivegetting smashed by a hammer? The Bretl Research Group, led by Timothy Bretl at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, decided this was a necessary feature of prosthetic fingers. So the group fabricated an insanely flexible model hand, hooked it up with sensors,and, using various finger torture devices, smashed, twisted andbent the fingers in every direction (with thevideo camera rolling). You might wince, but the deformed digits just bendright back into shape.

The key was to eliminate the weak spotscommon incommercial prosthetic hands. That would bethe pin jointsthehingesaround whichrigid prostheticfingers bend, but often break. So the Bretl group eliminated the fragile part, replacing it with flexible materials. For each finger, they3D-printed the bone with a flexible polyurethane material,routed it with pressure sensor wires, molded a silicone skin around it, and then inserted three layers of pre-stressed spring steel. The thumb is made similarly, but equipped with amotor.After being smashed with a hammer, the hand can pick up that hammeror a glass of wineor a pair of scissorsand use it like nothing happened.

3. The colonoscopy robot you never knew you wanted

This robotmoves like a worm, inching its way up the rectum and around theentirecolon. And yes, someday people may elect to put this device in their bodies. Its meant to serve as an alternative to traditional colonoscopy, an uncomfortable procedure in which a physician snakes a thin, flexiblecolonoscopethrough the large intestine to look for signs of colon cancer and other diseases.A small, controllable robot equipped with a camera and tools to collect tissue samples could do the same job, with less discomfort. I suppose thats some consolation.

Several research groups have built prototypes of colonoscopy robots, each with their own ick factor. There arelegged capsule robotsand treaded capsule robots. This one, developed by the Rentschler Research Group at the University of Colorado, Boulder,falls in the worm robot category. It has three body sections that scrunch up and expand, propelling it along the intestine in a peristaltic motion. Each body section of the robot contains three shape memory alloy (SMA) springs, which compress andexpand, and are cooled by forced air flow. It can move15 centimeters in 6 minutes. Perhaps its less painful than a colonoscopy, but this worm robotmight be a tough sell until someone gives it a better name.

4. Laser-assisted robot arm tries not to be a bull in a china shop

Its a little awkward and slow, but this robot arm will grab and retrieve that hard-to-reach object you need. All you have to do is aim a laser beam at it. (And hope that you dont bump into anything else along the way.)The invention, developed by researchers at the Robotics Labat University of Massachusetts Lowelland the Helping Hands Lab at Northeastern University, aims to aid people who use mobility scooters. Home robotic arms are expensive and often challenging to operate, and this team of engineers wanted to make something simple enough that any scooter ridercould use it.

So they mounted onto a mobility scooter a robot arm, and equipped both the scooter and the arm with depth cameras similar to the Microsoft Kinect Sensor, which is used with Xbox. When the user aims a laser beam at the object she wants, the robot arm moves to that object, the camera scans it, and the teams grasp detection algorithm determines how to maneuver itself in order to pick it up. The contraption got it right about 90 percent of the time, the team reported at ICRA. Unfortunately the thing is hugeand the arm tends to collide with other stuff in the room. That could be resolved by adding more depth sensors, the team reported.

5. Wearable vision system takes the ouch out of canes

A blind person walks into a crowded room and has a dilemma: He needs to find an empty chair to sit in, but doesnt want to go aroundboppingankleswith his cane as he tests all the occupied chairs first. To help, researchers at MITs computer science and artificial intelligence laboratorycame up with a guiding system based on vibration feedback. The system includes a depth camera, an embedded computer, a vibration belt, and a brail system. The user wears the camera and computer around his neck and the vibration belt around his torso. Based on thevibration feedback, he can discern the location of obstacles in the area before testing them out with his cane. It can even tell him which chair is empty. To test the system, the engineers sent blind volunteers wandering through the halls of their buildings and into mock-up spaces. The volunteers were more hesitant and walked more slowly when they wore the feedback system, but they were able to navigate without using their canes.

IEEE Spectrums biomedical engineering blog, featuring the wearable sensors, big data analytics, and implanted devices that enable new ventures in personalized medicine.

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A Colonoscopy Robot and Other Weird Biomedical Tech From IEEE's Biggest Robotics Conference - IEEE Spectrum