I-Corps: Fabricating cable-driven robots

Award ID: 2227984

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the potential to work alongside medical doctors to develop and produce a biomedical robotic device for clinical settings. Emergency Cesarean section (C-section) surgery rates in the United States have grown and existing alternative solutions to cases of labor dystocia, like obstetrical forceps, have gone out of favor. Current obstetrical forceps demand extensive training, the use of vacuum extractors that fail to produce a vaginal delivery in up to 34% of cases, and emergency C-section surgeries that are harmful if performed after a prolonged second stage of labor. The team aims reduce delivery complications using flexible, autonomous, obstetrical forceps. Biomedical engineering has made great strides in creating novel instrumentation for numerous surgical procedures, yet the push for design innovation in tools used for the child birthing process is lacking. This application of medical robotics may save lives and ease the overall process of childbirth. This I-Corps project is based on the development of a novel fabrication process to model and 3D print robotic features as a single piece, including all elastic, inelastic, and conductive elements that comprise the robots body, actuators, and sensors. Robots can leverage flexibility in complex environments to absorb external, unexpected forces while maintaining the ability to manipulate objects firmly. The developed fabrication method enables a customizable approach to creating biologically-inspired autonomous systems, improving safety, comfort, and efficacy when interacting with people in medical settings. Further, the innovation of one-step fabrication works well for human interaction applications because it offers designers ease and reproducibility in creating iterative prototypes while still being robust enough to use for the production of the final product. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Program Director: Ruth Shuman