Leland Stanford Junior University

Johns Hopkins University

Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Clear Guide Medical, Inc.

Allison Mariko Okamura

Noah Cowan

Laura H Blumenschein

Russell H Taylor

Elliot Wright Hawkes

Tomonori Yamamoto

Robert James Webster

Nathan Scot Usevitch

Gregory Donald Hager

Robert J Webster, Iii

Katsu Yamane

Pezhman Foroughi

Sean Follmer

Philipp Jakob Stolka

Kenneth Y Goldberg

Gregory Chirikjian

Balazs Peter Vagvolgyi

Joseph Davis Greer

Matthew C Rendina

Mac Schwager

Heather Culbertson

Ron Alterovitz

Margaret M Coad

Rachel Thomasson

Sophia R Williams

James C Gwilliam

Andrew A Stanley

Peter Balazs Vagvolgyi

Brian H Do

James Ballard

Zachary Hammond

Caitlyn E Seim

Cara M Nunez

Zhenishbek Zhakypov

Noah J Cowan

Technology is provided for controlling the motion of soft growing robots during retraction to prevent uncontrollable buckling or bending. A double walled flexible tubular robot is provided with an inside wall, an outside wall, and a folded tip. A retraction device located at the folded tip has a routing aperture sized to encompass the inside wall and for routing the inside wall through the retraction device. The retraction device further has a retraction mechanism inside the retraction device to controllably retract material of the inside wall through the routing aperture in the direction away from the folded tip, thereby decreasing the outside wall, creating more inside wall, and as such shortening the length of the flexible robot. This technology enables behaviors, such as (1) growing in one direction, and then retracting and growing in a different direction, and (2) retracting through a confined space without applying force to the environment.

Device to allow retraction of soft growing robots without buckling

A fully 3-D printed, soft, monolithic 4-DoF fingertip haptic technology is provided, called FingerPrint, that stimulates linear and rotational shear, pressure, and vibration on the finger pad. Constructed using an origami waterbomb base mechanism and printed from a flexible material, the device embeds four sets of eight foldable vacuum-powered pneumatic actuators to achieve three translational (x, y, z) and one rotational (torsion) tactile motions and forces of a tactor end-effector on the finger pad skin.

3-d printable multi-degrees-of-freedom haptic interfaces for stimulating skin strech, pressure and vibrotactile feedback on a user's body

A system and method for social-physical haptic interaction that include receiving sensor data from a plurality of sensors that are disposed within a haptic vest. The system and method also include training a neural network with at least one haptic interaction profile based on the sensor data. The system and method additionally include analyzing at least one haptic interaction profile during execution of at least one haptic application. The system and method further include electronically controlling the haptic vest to provide haptic feedback during the execution of at least one haptic application that is based on at least one haptic interaction profile.

System and method for social-physical haptic interaction

Survivors of central nervous system injury commonly present with spastic hypertonia. The affected muscles are hyperexcitable and can display involuntary static muscle tone and an exaggerated stretch reflex. These symptoms affect posture and disrupt activities of daily living. Symptoms are typically measured using subjective manual tests such as the Modified Ashworth Scale; however, more quantitative measures are necessary to evaluate potential treatments. The hands are one of the most common targets for intervention, but few investigators attempt to quantify symptoms of spastic hypertonia affecting the fingers. An Isometric Force Pillow (IFP) is provided herein to quantify involuntary grip force. This lightweight, computerized tool provides a holistic measure of finger flexion force and can be used in various orientations for clinical testing and to measure the impact of assistive devices.

Device and method to assess hand flexion tone

Adaptable and customizable truss-like robots are provided. The robotic truss has robotic roller modules configured to translate along one or more pliable member and therewith control the shape or design of the robot.

Reconfigurable, adaptable robotic structures

A macro-mini actuation mechanism for pneumatic pouches is provided which involves stacking smaller proximal pouches (proximal layer) underneath larger distal pouches (distal layer). The proximal layer of smaller pouches is the contact area with e.g. a (human) body. Macro-mini pneumatic actuation of pouches for wearable haptic displays allows for the control of contact area of pneumatic pouches and the ability to cover large areas while maintaining a fast-dynamic response and higher spatial resolutions. This stacked pouch concept allows for pressure/force feedback to a user&#x2014;something which cannot be rendered by vibrotactile actuators alone. Control of effective pouch height may also allow a potential wearable haptic display to better conform to the human body. A pressure-based display with stacked pouches could allow for larger tolerances between the display and the human body without sacrificing contact area, allowing better fit across users.

Macro-mini actuation of pneumatic pouches for soft wearable haptic displays with independent control of force and contact area

Haptic illusions of continuous lateral motion across the skin are provided in two distinct ways. The first approach is to provide a discrete array of tactors and drive them to provide normal forces to the skin in a sequential pattern along the array of tactors. The second approach is to provide a discrete array of tactors that each provide both normal and lateral forces to the skin in a sequential pattern along the array of tactors. In both cases, the result is a perceived motion of a contact point across the skin, occurring along the length of the factor array.

Haptic devices to create the sensation of continuous lateral motion

A robot for navigating an environment through growth is provided. The growing robot has a thin-walled, hollow, pressurized, compliant body that elongates the body by everting from its tip new wall material that is stored inside the body. The robot controls the shape of the body by actively controlling the relative lengths of the wall material along opposing sides of the body allowing steering.

Robotic mobility and construction by growth

A system for guidance of an imaging device may include a handheld imaging device, a multidirectional feedback device, and a control unit in communication with the multidirectional feedback device and the handheld imaging device. The control unit may be configured to receive a target location, determine an initial position and pose of the handheld imaging device, calculate a position and pose deviation relative to said initial position and pose, translate said position and pose deviation into control data, and transmit said control data to the multidirectional feedback device, wherein the multidirectional feedback device uses control data to provide an operator with feedback to guide the handheld imaging device towards the target.

System and method for targeting feedback

A surgical robot including an imaging system comprising at least one camera, a processor in communication with the imaging system, a manipulation system in communication with the processor, and a visual display in communication with the processor. The processor is operable to calculate a mechanical property estimate for an area of an environment based on an environment model of tool-environment interaction data, create a composite image comprising a mechanical property map of the mechanical property estimate overlaid on an environment image from the at least one camera, and output the composite image on the visual display.

Environment property estimation and graphical display

A sensory display for experiencing rigidity and local shape in the display is provided. Rigidity and local shape of cells in an array of cells forming the display is controlled by three independent and different control mechanisms. Cell rigidity controllers control the rigidity of the cells. A shape array controller controls the shape of the array of cells. Cell pinning controllers controls the height of the cells. A computer control interface could control the respective control functionalities of each of the controllers. The display experience could be further enhanced with audio, images or video.

Visual and touch interaction display

A method for guiding a surgical cannula having a plurality of overlapping flexible tubes includes determining a desired cannula path; selecting the plurality of flexible tubes, wherein each of the flexible tubes within the plurality has a pre-formed curvature and a flexibility; determining a final overlap configuration of the plurality of flexible tubes such that a resulting curvature of the overlap configuration substantially corresponds to the desired cannula path; and determining a plurality of intermediate overlap configurations of the plurality of flexible tubes. Each of the intermediate configurations correspond to the desired cannula path.

Active cannula for bio-sensing and surgical intervention

A surgical robot including an imaging system comprising at least one camera, a processor in communication with the imaging system, a manipulation system in communication with the processor, and a visual display in communication with the processor. The processor is operable to calculate a stiffness estimate for an area of an environment based on an environment model of tool-environment interaction data, create a composite image comprising a stiffness map of the stiffness estimate overlaid on an environment image from the at least one camera, and output the composite image on the visual display.

Environment property estimaton and graphical display

Disclosed is a surgical needle, or active cannula, that is capable of following a complex path through cavities and tissue within a patient's anatomy. The needle has a plurality of overlapping flexible tubes, each of which has a pre-formed curvature and a pre-determined flexibility. Each of the plurality of flexible tubes is selected based on their respective preformed curvature and flexibility so that a given overlap configuration causes the combination of overlapping flexible tubes to form a predetermined shape that substantially matches a desired path through the anatomy. By individually controlling the translation and angular orientation of each of the flexible tubes, the surgical needle may be guided through the anatomy according to the desired path.

Disclosed is a system for percutaneously steering a surgical needle. Needle steering is accomplished by taking advantage of a deflection force imparted on the bevel tip of the needle by the tissue medium as the needle is pushed through the tissue. By controlling the translation speed and rotation angle of the bevel, a flexible needle may be steered substantially without deflecting or distorting the tissue. The control inputs (translation speed and rotation angle) are computed based on a 'bicycle' non-holonomic kinematic model that is a function of mechanical properties of the tissue medium. The system may be used with image-based feedback, which may provide for feedback-based refinement of the model as the needle propagates through the tissue.

Growing community of inventors

Mountain View, CA, United States of America

Allison Mariko Okamura