CAREER: Safe and Transformative Robotic Intervention through Dynamic Elastic Structures (STRIDES)

University Of Tennessee Knoxville, Knoxville TN

Investigators

Abstract

Robotic devices are currently being used in medical applications, but their prevalence is hindered by lack of capability. This project seeks to transform the safety and effectiveness of medical interventions by advancing the capabilities of flexible robots and medical devices. The project aims to create new mathematical models to better understand the behavior of flexible robots and to develop innovative robotic devices to increase their reach, precision, intelligence, and safety. In collaboration with medical professionals, the project will use these results to develop robotic systems for minimally invasive surgical removal of colon cancer and upper extremity rehabilitation. The research is fundamentally linked to an educational plan that includes middle- and high-school engineering outreach, as well as undergraduate research and open courseware development. This research is organized along three technical thrusts that advance soft and continuum robotics knowledge in modeling, design, and sensing. First, the project will create a novel computational framework for the dynamics of slender elastic objects that extends and unifies existing models. The proposed approach is a unique, high-order time-discretized solution method for the hyperbolic partial-differential equations of a Cosserat rod, which has potential for increased accuracy and efficiency. Second, this project will analyze and validate two novel concepts in the design of elastic robotic structures: high-strength, variable-curvature mechanisms, and concentric agonist-antagonist elastic actuation. These concepts are aimed at addressing the tradeoffs of range-of-motion, strength, and compactness in continuum robot design. Third, new algorithmic approaches for shape-based distributed force sensing and elastic stability assessment for elastic objects are being developed and tested. The research plan culminates in efforts to advance knowledge of robotic medical intervention at the system level for minimally-invasive robotic surgery and robot-assisted rehabilitation.