Soft Robot for Surgical Innovations
Project Background
My senior capstone project was to work on the research and development of a soft robot for minimally invasive surgery within the lung. Our project was provided by industry clients at Medtronic, who wished for a better understanding of the current state of the field, as well as the benefits and detriments of soft systems.
Our project was based on the need that pulmonologists have for newer systems that improve on current bronchyoscopic technology that gives them more refined control over the positioning of surgical tools within the lung, while prioritizing the safety of the patients. Our clients wanted to better understand what role soft robotic technologies could play in new bronchyoscopic systems. As a team, we prepared research of the current state of knowledge of soft robotic actuators, developed initial prototypes utilizing three different actuation methods, and presented what we learned to our clients to make a final decision on what our final design would be.
Currently there are three kinds of soft actuator: fluidic elastomer actuators, dielectric elastomer actuators, and vine actuators. The three methods all rely on the deformation of a material due to either fluidic pressure or electric charge that then induces flexion, expansion or contraction. For our purposes, we decided upon fluidic elestomer actuators to make up the main body of our robot, as it was the safest to drive inside the human body, and the method that offered the best bending.
Here are a few photos of one of our preliminary designs that I was in charge of creating.
This design was supposed to utilize rounded bubble-like features that would expand when a positive pressure is applied to the internal chamber. Here is an example of this expansion:
My team and I then iterated upon this design to better understand the fundamental characteristics that affected its actuation and the best methods for manufacturing these pieces.
My Role
I was on a group of ten people and worked as the team’s communication and logistics manager. In this role, I worked closely with our clients, translated client requests into action items for the team, provided detailed progress updates, ask for feedback, and helped our team implement client advice.
Additionally, as the only person on the team who had any background with soft robotics, I helped provide a larger base of knowldge for the team to work from. As a result of this, I naturally fell into the role of the technical lead for the project. As such, I helped direct our preliminary research, assisted our team’s CAD, manufacturing, and testing engineers to develop over 55 prototypes over the span of the project, and acted as the point person of the mechanical design of the robot. While taking care of these responsibilities, I worked closely with the project manager to coordinate the team, manage team commincation, and delegated tasks to make the most of each member’s skills.
This project was incredibly formative for me as an engineer, a leader, and a follower. The project provided a significant technical challenge, and working with and coordinating a team of ten people was a considerable social one. Working in such a large team required decisiviness, we needed to quickly make progress and move towards our goal and having so many people meant it was easy to get sidetracked. However, our large team was to our benefit too! We were a team of experienced engineering students, with different backgrounds and skillsets, and each of us had so much to offer the team and the project. Finding the delicate balance between ideation, and action is one skill that I will take forward with me into my future career.
Project Poster
Presented at the CU Boulder 2022 Engineering Projects Expo
Technical Skills
- Solidworks - Complex 3D Modeling
- Collaborative Iterative Design
- Silicon Molding
- Technical Communication
- Team leadership and management
- Delegation