Shape Deposition Manufacturing of a Soft, Atraumatic, and Deployable Surgical Grasper

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Gafford ◽  
Ye Ding ◽  
Andrew Harris ◽  
Terrence McKenna ◽  
Panagiotis Polygerinos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Grip Force ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Pressure Sensors ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Robotic Platform ◽  
Minimally Invasive Surgical ◽  
Simulated Environment ◽  
Force Monitoring ◽  
Shape Deposition Manufacturing ◽  
Structural Compliance

This paper details the design, analysis, fabrication, and validation of a deployable, atraumatic grasper intended for retraction and manipulation tasks in manual and robotic minimally invasive surgical (MIS) procedures. Fabricated using a combination of shape deposition manufacturing (SDM) and 3D printing, the device (which acts as a deployable end-effector for robotic platforms) has the potential to reduce the risk of intraoperative hemorrhage by providing a soft, compliant interface between delicate tissue structures and the metal laparoscopic forceps and graspers that are currently used to manipulate and retract these structures on an ad hoc basis. This paper introduces a general analytical framework for designing SDM fingers where the desire is to predict the shape and the transmission ratio, and this framework was used to design a multijointed grasper that relies on geometric trapping to manipulate tissue, rather than friction or pinching, to provide a safe, stable, adaptive, and conformable means for manipulation. Passive structural compliance, coupled with active grip force monitoring enabled by embedded pressure sensors, helps to reduce the cognitive load on the surgeon. Initial manipulation tasks in a simulated environment have demonstrated that the device can be deployed though a 15 mm trocar and develop a stable grasp using Intuitive Surgical's daVinci robotic platform to deftly manipulate a tissue analog.

Green Care: social entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 268-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pia Heike Johansen
Keyword(s):  
Social Services ◽  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Social Entrepreneurs ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Entrepreneurship Theory ◽  
Social Farming

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a sector-based analysis of the drivers for social entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses qualitative data from two studies in the Danish region of Northern Jutland. The data include responses from 38 farmers who offered or had considered offering social services. The analytical framework is taken from a review of the limited literature on Green Care and Social Farming and social entrepreneurship theory. Findings – Strong and consistent tools for the categorisation of farmers’ social entrepreneurship have been developed. However, these tools have merely been used descriptively rather than to create proactive agriculture policies to facilitate social entrepreneurship. In Region Northern Jutland social entrepreneurship in farming is driven by a combination of tradition, close relationships and coincidence. It is ad hoc, with each initiative starting from scratch because no knowledge or experience has been gathered or distributed. Research limitations/implications – The agricultural sector-based approach to social entrepreneurship will not be discussed against other approaches to social entrepreneurship. This would be a suggestion for another more conceptual kind of article in the future. Originality/value – A study of social entrepreneurship among farmers has not yet been coupled with a sector-based analytical framework. This paper contributes to the literature of social entrepreneurship by supplementing with an agricultural sector-based approach.

scholarly journals Smart textile device for shooter’s fingers movement monitoring

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Adelina Vevere ◽  
Alexander Oks ◽  
Alexei Katashev ◽  
Galina Terlecka ◽  
Laima Saiva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Monitoring System ◽  
Grip Force ◽  
Index Finger ◽  
Pressure Sensors ◽  
Middle Finger ◽  
Smart Textile ◽  
Single Sensor ◽  
Fast Release ◽  
Movement Monitoring

BACKGROUND: The manner in which shooters pull the trigger may significantly affect the shooter’s results. Shooting coaches are often not able to detect incorrect pull because of gun movement during the shot and recoil. OBJECTIVE: Development of the smart-textile based trigger pull monitoring system and demonstration of its ability to distinguish correct and wrong triggering techniques. METHODS: Two separated knitted resistive pressure sensors were integrated over III and II phalanges in the index finger fingerstall; single sensor was integrated over both III and II phalanges of the middle finger fingerstall. Resistance of the sensors was measured in a course of shots, performed by expert shooter, which simulated typical novice’s trigger pull errors. RESULTS: Sensors’ resistance recordings were made for following erroneous trigger pull motions: pulling of the trigger with index finger’s II phalanx instead of III; fast and jerky trigger pull (trigger tear-off); too fast release of the trigger after shot; and excessive grip force, applied by middle finger. For each type of erroneous movement, recordings waveforms included distinguishable features that characterised a particular type of error. CONCLUSIONS: The developed trigger pull monitoring system provides signals that could be used for recognition of the incorrect trigger pull motions during gun shots.

scholarly journals Self-organizing topology for energy-efficient ad-hoc communication networks of mobile devices

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Indushree Banerjee ◽  
Martijn Warnier ◽  
Frances M. T Brazier
Keyword(s):  
Communication Network ◽  
Mobile Devices ◽  
Communication Networks ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Preferential Attachment ◽  
Scale Free ◽  
Simulated Environment ◽  
Adaptive Topology ◽  
Hoc Networks

Abstract When physical communication network infrastructures fail, infrastructure-less communication networks such as mobile ad-hoc networks (MANET), can provide an alternative. This, however, requires MANETs to be adaptable to dynamic contexts characterized by the changing density and mobility of devices and availability of energy sources. To address this challenge, this paper proposes a decentralized context-adaptive topology control protocol. The protocol consists of three algorithms and uses preferential attachment based on the energy availability of devices to form a loop-free scale-free adaptive topology for an ad-hoc communication network. The proposed protocol has a number of advantages. First, it is adaptive to the environment, hence applicable in scenarios where the number of participating mobile devices and their availability of energy resources is always changing. Second, it is energy-efficient through changes in the topology. This means it can be flexibly be combined with different routing protocols. Third, the protocol requires no changes on the hardware level. This means it can be implemented on all current phones, without any recalls or investments in hardware changes. The evaluation of the protocol in a simulated environment confirms the feasibility of creating and maintaining a self-adaptive ad-hoc communication network, consisting of multitudes of mobile devices for reliable communication in a dynamic context.

scholarly journals Isolating In-Situ Grip and Push Force Distribution from Hand-Handle Contact Pressure with an Industrial Electric Nutrunner

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (23) ◽  
pp. 8120
Author(s):  
Cederick Landry ◽  
Daniel Loewen ◽  
Harish Rao ◽  
Brendan L. Pinto ◽  
Robert Bahensky ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Grip Force ◽  
Pressure Sensors ◽  
Measurement Instrument ◽  
Force Distribution ◽  
Pressure Measurements ◽  
Industrial Workers ◽  
Shoulder Injuries ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Measured Pressure

Objectives: Grip force during hand tool operation is the primary contributor to tendon strain and related wrist injuries, whereas push force is a contributor to shoulder injuries. However, both cannot be directly measured using a single measurement instrument. The objective of this research was to develop and test an algorithm to isolate the grip and push force distributions from in-situ hand-handle pressure measurements and to quantify their distributions among industrial workers using an electric nutrunner. Methods: Experienced automobile assembly line workers used an industrial nutrunner to tighten fasteners at various locations and postures. The pressure applied by the hand on the tool handle was measured dynamically using pressure sensors mounted on the handle. An algorithm was developed to compute the push force applied to the handle of an electric pistol-grip nutrunner based on recorded pressure measurements. An optimization problem was solved to find the contribution of each measured pressure to the actual pushing force of the tool. Finally, the grip force was determined from the difference between the measured pressure and the calculated pushing pressure. Results: The grip force and push force were successfully isolated and there was no correlation between the two forces. The computed grip force increased from low to high fastener locations, whereas the push force significantly increased during overhead fastening. A significant difference across the participants’ computed grip forces was observed. The grip force distribution showed that its contribution to total hand force was larger than other definitions in the literature. Conclusions: The developed algorithm can aid in better understanding the risk of injury associated with different tasks through the notion of grip and push force distribution. This was shown to be important as even workers with considerable power tool experience applied significantly more grip and push force than other participants, all of whom successfully completed each task. Moreover, the fact that both forces were uncorrelated shows the need for extracting them independently.

Computational Analytical Framework for Affective Modeling

2015 ◽  
pp. 1-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Hudlicka
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Design Guidelines ◽  
Model Design ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Alternative Means ◽  
Synthetic Agents ◽  
Emotion Generation ◽  
Affective Modeling

Computational affective models are being developed both to elucidate affective mechanisms, and to enhance believability of synthetic agents and robots. Yet in spite of the rapid growth of computational affective modeling, no systematic guidelines exist for model design and analysis. Lack of systematic guidelines contributes to ad hoc design practices, hinders model sharing and re-use, and makes systematic comparison of existing models and theories challenging. Lack of a common computational terminology also hinders cross-disciplinary communication that is essential to advance our understanding of emotions. In this chapter the author proposes a computational analytical framework to provide a basis for systematizing affective model design by: (1) viewing emotion models in terms of two core types: emotion generation and emotion effects, and (2) identifying the generic computational tasks necessary to implement these processes. The chapter then discusses how these computational ‘building blocks' can support the development of design guidelines, and a systematic analysis of distinct emotion theories and alternative means of their implementation.

scholarly journals New Detection Paradigms to Improve Wireless Sensor Network Performance under Jamming Attacks

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. 2489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolina Del-Valle-Soto ◽  
Carlos Mex-Perera ◽  
Ivan Aldaya ◽  
Fernando Lezama ◽  
Juan Arturo Nolazco-Flores ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Network Performance ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Jamming Attacks ◽  
Performance Metric ◽  
Simulated Environment ◽  
Lower Left Corner ◽  
Dynamic Source ◽  
Jamming Detection ◽  
Self Tuning ◽  
The One

In this work, two new self-tuning collaborative-based mechanisms for jamming detection are proposed. These techniques are named (i) Connected Mechanism and (ii) Extended Mechanism. The first one detects jamming by comparing the performance parameters with respect to directly connected neighbors by interchanging packets with performance metric information, whereas the latter, jamming detection relays comparing defined zones of nodes related with a collector node, and using information of this collector detects a possible affected zone. The effectiveness of these techniques were tested in simulated environment of a quadrangular grid of 7 × 7, each node delivering 10 packets/sec, and defining as collector node, the one in the lower left corner of the grid. The jammer node is sending packets under reactive jamming. The mechanism was implemented and tested in AODV (Ad hoc On Demand Distance Vector), DSR (Dynamic Source Routing), and MPH (Multi-Parent Hierarchical), named AODV-M, DSR-M and MPH-M, respectively. Results reveal that the proposed techniques increase the accurate of the detected zone, reducing the detection of the affected zone up to 15% for AODV-M and DSR-M and up to 4% using the MPH-M protocol.

Switching from Thoracoscopic to Robotic Platform for Lobectomy: Report of Learning Curve and Outcome

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric C. Lee ◽  
Richard S. Lazzaro ◽  
Lawrence R. Glassman ◽  
Vijay A. Singh ◽  
Julissa E. Jurado ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lymph Node ◽  
Learning Curve ◽  
Thoracoscopic Surgery ◽  
Steady Increase ◽  
Robotic Platform ◽  
Vats Lobectomy ◽  
Lymph Node Yield ◽  
Patient Demographics ◽  
Minimally Invasive Surgical ◽  
Potential Improvement

Objective The optimal minimally invasive surgical management for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is unclear. For experienced video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) surgeons, the increased costs and learning curve are strong barriers for adoption of robotics. We examined the learning curve and outcome of an experienced VATS lobectomy surgeon switching to a robotic platform. Methods We conducted a retrospective review to identify patients who underwent a robotic or VATS lobectomy for NSCLC from 2016 to 2018. Analysis of patient demographics, perioperative data, pathological upstaging rates, and robotic approach (RA) learning curve was performed. Results This study evaluated 167 lobectomies in total, 118 by RA and 49 by VATS. Patient and tumor characteristics were similar. RA had significantly more lymph node harvested (14 versus 10; P = 0.004), more nodal stations sampled (5 versus 4; P < 0.001), and more N1 nodes (8 versus 6; P = 0.010) and N2 nodes (6 versus 4; P = 0.017) resected. With RA, 22 patients were upstaged (18.6%) compared to 5 patients (10.2%) with VATS ( P = 0.26). No differences were found in perioperative outcome. Operative time decreased significantly with a learning curve of 20 cases, along with a steady increase in lymph node yield. Conclusions RA can be adopted safely by experienced VATS surgeons. Learning curve is 20 cases, with RA resulting in superior lymph node clearance compared to VATS. The potential improvement in upstaging and oncologic resection for NSCLC may justify the associated investments of robotics even for experienced VATS surgeons.

scholarly journals An analytical framework for smart manufacturing

2018 ◽  
Vol 249 ◽  
pp. 03010
Author(s):  
Amogh Kulkarni ◽  
Daniel Balasubramanian ◽  
Gabor Karsai ◽  
Peter Denno
Keyword(s):  
Manufacturing Systems ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Smart Manufacturing ◽  
Production Data ◽  
Domain Specific Language ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Code Generators ◽  
Analysis Models ◽  
Descriptive Models

Smart manufacturing is an emerging paradigm for the next generation of manufacturing systems. One key to the success of smart manufacturing is the ability to use the production data for defining predictive and descriptive models and their analyses. However, the development and refinement of such models is a labor- and knowledgeintensive activity that involves acquiring data, selecting and refining an analytical method and validating results. This paper presents an analytical framework that facilitates these activities by allowing ad-hoc analyses to be rapidly specified and performed. The proposed framework uses a domain-specific language to allow manufacturing experts to specify analysis models in familiar terms and includes code generators that automatically generate the lower-level artifacts needed for performing the analysis. We also describe the use of our framework with an example problem.

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