Real-Time Robust 3D Plane Extraction for Wearable Robot Perception and Control

Wearable environment perception system has the great potential for improving the autonomous control of mobility aids [1]. A visual perception system could provide abundant information of surroundings to assist the task-oriented control such as navigation, obstacle avoidance, object detection, etc., which are essential functions for the wearers who are visually impaired or blind [2, 3, 4]. Moreover, a vision-based terrain sensing is a critical input to the decision-making for the intelligent control system. Especially for the users who find difficulties in manually achieving a seamless control model transition.

Finite Element Studies of Triple Actuation of Shape Memory Alloy Wires for Surgical Tools

Since the early discovery in 1951 [1], shape memory alloys (SMAs) have been used in design and development of several innovative engineering systems. SMAs’ unique characteristics have introduced unconventional alternatives in design and development of advanced devices. SMA’s field of applications has covered many areas from aerospace to auto industries, and medical devices [2]. During the past couple of decades, scientists have suggested material models to predict the SMA’s shape memory effect (SME) and its superelastic behavior. The superelastic characteristic of SMAs (its capability to exhibit a large recoverable strain) has been widely used to develop innovative products including biomedical implants such as stents, artificial heart valves, orthodontic wires, frames of indestructible spectacles, etc. However, its actuation capabilities, known as SME, hasn’t been thoroughly expanded. The number of products privileging from SMA’s SME behavior has been very limited. The reason relies on the SMA’s complex material properties that depend on the stress, strain and temperature at every stage of actuation as well as the material’s processing and the thermomechanical loading history.

Design and Verification of a Reloadable Adrenaline Auto-Injector for Intramuscular Injections

Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction when a patient is exposed to an antigen to which they have become hypersensitive. Exposure to these antigens results in the release of mediators from mast cells in the body, causing inflammation of critical organ systems. Without immediate treatment, it can lead to patient mortality within 15 minutes. To increase the probability of patient survival, a dose of adrenaline must be administered. There are several routes of administration, but the use of an Adrenaline Auto Injector is the safest, quickest and most efficient route. An Adrenaline Auto-Injector (AAI) is an injection device that delivers adrenaline to the deep muscle tissue of the body, preferably via the vastus lateralis muscle (as the rate of absorption is more effective than other injection sites such as the deltoid, gluteus maximus etc). Adrenaline Auto-Injectors are preferable to syringes, or prefilled syringes as they are easier to use, and can be used by people that are not medically trained. They can also be used in highly stressful situations without much risk of injury.

Revised Design of a Passive Hydraulic Training Simulator of Biceps Spasticity

Spasticity is a common abnormal muscle behavior associated with neurological disorders and is characterized by speed-dependent increased tone in the affected muscle when induced by passive movement [1]. During the passive stretch of the muscle, additional unique clinical signs that accompany spasticity are (a) sudden increase in muscle tone at a certain joint position (catch angle), called the “catch”, (b) after the “catch”, a quick drop of muscle resistance, called the “release”, where (a) and (b) together are usually referred to as the “catch-release” behavior, and (c) limited range of motion (ROM) [1,2]. With the evolution of spasticity, these symptoms will worsen.

Solid-Lattice Hip Prosthesis Design: Applying Topology and Lattice Optimization to Reduce Stress Shielding From Hip Implants

The goal of this study was to construct a design methodology for a prosthesis which causes less stress shielding and meets fatigue requirements. Stress shielding is the reduction in bone stresses due to the introduction of an implant. Implants may become loose when stress shielding is present because bone resorption occurs as the bone adapts to the reduced bone stresses. Topology and lattice optimization were performed using OptiStruct to design a hip prosthesis where stress shielding and prosthesis fatigue were considered. The optimized design reduced stress shielding by 50+% when compared to a conventional generic implant, and the fatigue life met the ISO standards. Additionally, manufacturability was considered in the design process and a Ti-6Al-4V prototype was printed with an EOS selective laser melting machine.

Principles of Computer Numerical Control Applied to Small Research Animal Surgical Procedures

The tools and techniques available for systems neuroscientists for neural recording and stimulation during behavior have become plentiful in the last decade. The tools for implementing these techniques in vivo, however, have not advanced respectively. The use of these techniques requires the removal of sections of skull tissue without damaging the underlying tissue, which is a very delicate procedure requiring significant training. Automating a part of the tissue removal processes would potentially enable more precise procedures to be performed, and it could democratize these procedres for widespread adoption by neuroscience lab groups. Here, we describe the ‘Craniobot’, a microsurgery platform that combines automated skull surface profiling with a computer numerical controlled (CNC) milling machine to perform a variety of microsurgical procedures in mice. Surface profiling by the Craniobot has micrometer precision, and the surface profiling information can be used to perform milling operations with relatively quick, allowing high throughput. We have used the Craniobot to perform skull thinning, small to large craniotomies, as well as drilling pilot holes for anchoring cranial implants. The Craniobot is implemented using open source and customizable machining practices and can be built with of the shelf parts for under $1000.

A Novel Lead Garment Structural System to Alleviate Orthopedic Stress for Surgeons

Cardiovascular, orthopedic, and interventional radiology procedures using fluoroscopy require healthcare professionals to wear heavy lead garments for radiation protection, sometimes for up to 12 hours per day. Wearing lead garments for prolonged periods of time can lead to musculoskeletal injuries, discomfort, and fatigue. MobiLead is a mobile lead garment frame that was developed to reduce the weight supported by the user in an effort to mitigate these problems. The MobiLead system moves the lower garment load off the user’s body to a structural ground-supported frame and redistributes the upper load from the shoulders to the hips through a torso frame. The system is compact and maximizes the limited space available in operating rooms, while still giving the surgeon adequate mobility for various emergency procedures. Preliminary analysis of device effectiveness was conducted using electromyography and qualitative surgeon user feedback surveys. This paper will discuss the design, fabrication, and testing procedures for this mobile radiation protection system optimizing both support and mobility.

The Application of Deep Learning for the Classification of Internal Human Cardiac Anatomy

The applications of sensing and localization are becoming more sophisticated in many invasive and non-invasive surgical procedures and there is great interest to apply them to the human heart. Ideally, such tools could be indispensable for allowing physicians to spatially understand relative tissue morphologies and their associated electrical conduction. Yet today there remains a steep divide between the creation of spatial environment models and the contextual understandings of adjacent features. To begin to address this, we explore the problem of anatomical perception by applying deep learning to the identification of internal cardiac anatomy images.

Design of a Thumb Strength Testing Device

The scope of the project was to design a pneumatic cylinder for measuring the resistive and applied force of the flexor pollicis longus (FPL) after anterior interosseous nerve (AIN) surgery. The patient’s distal section of the first phalange, of the thumb, is the area of evaluation. The device is intended for assessing both the quality of the surgery results as well as physical therapy progression. Criteria such as mobility, compact design, accuracy, repeatability, and ease of operation are some of the major requirements. The initial prototype is intended to collect FPL strength data to establish operating conditions.

Multiscale Entropy Technique Discriminates Single Lead ECG’s With Normal Sinus Rhythm and Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is characterized by abnormal interruptions in breathing during sleep due to partial or complete airway obstructions affecting middle-aged men and women on an estimated ∼4% of the population [1]. While the disorder is clinically manageable to relieve patients, the challenge occurs with diagnosis, with many patients going undiagnosed leading to further complications such as ischemic heart diseases, stroke etc. Sleep apnea also significantly affects the quality of day to day life causing sleepiness and fatigue. Polysomnography (PSG) technique is currently a used for detecting sleep apnea which is a comprehensive sleep test to diagnose sleep disorders by recording brain waves, the oxygen level in the blood, heart rate, breathing, eye and leg movements during the study. However, PSG test is very expensive, requires patients to stay overnight and is known to cause inconvenience to the patients.