Scuola Superiore Di Studi Universitari E Di Perfezionamento Sant'anna

Other

Korea Institute of Science and Technology

Brown University

Scuola Superiore Di Studi Universitari E Di Perfezionamento S. Anna

Toyota Motor Europe

Interuniversitair Micro-Elektronica Centrum Vzw

Fondazione Istituto Italiano Di Technologia

Era Endoscopy S.r.l.

Microtech S.r.l.

Fondazione Istituto Italiano Di Tecnologia

Toyota Motor Europe Nv/sa

Universitá Degli Studi Di Torino

Scuola Superiore Santanna

I.n.a.i.l. - Istituto Nazionale Per L'assicurazione Contro Gli Infortuni Sul Lavoro

Paolo Dario

Arianna Menciassi

Cesare Stefanini

Maria Chiara Carrozza

Alberto Arena

Cecilia Laschi

Andrea Pietrabissa

Pietro Valdastri

Barbara Mazzolai

Andrea Arienti

Samuele Gorini

Giuseppe Pernorio

Bernardo Magnani

Danilo E De Rossi

Patrick Aebischer

ByungKyu Kim

Massimiliano Simi

Jong-Oh Park

Jonas Ambeck-Madsen

Hiromichi Yanagihara

Giulio Sandini

Tae-Song Kim

Luca Ascari

Robert F Valentini

Pierre M Galletti

Virgilio Mattoli

Gunnar Anhoeck

Dino Accoto

Fabian Rieber

Maurizio Follador

Francesco Greco

Virginia Pensabene

YounKoo Jeong

Paolo Corradi

Lucia Beccai

Ingrid Debusschere

Cor L Claeys

Gregory Kreider

Louis Phee Soo Jay

Vincenzo Tagliasco

Angelo Sabatini

Lucia Lencioni

Hun-Young Lim

Christian Di Natali

Vittoria Raffa

Gianni Ciofani

Orazio Vittorio

Stefano Roccella

Tommaso Ranzani

Matteo Cianchetti

Marcello Calisti

Michele Giorelli

Umberto Scarfogliero

Claudio Quaglia

Marco Piccigallo

Selene Tognarelli

Sarah De Cristofaro

Ulisse Bertocchi

Marco Quirini

Robert J Iii Webster

Alberta Arena

Chi-Nghia Ho

Giacomo Saviozzi

Francesco Fornai

Marco Augusto Bonino

Mario Morino

Alberto Arezzo

Syed Taimoor Hassan Shah

Elisa Taglione

Paolo Catitti

Gastone Ciuti

Robotic platform for mini-invasive surgery comprising robotic arms () suitable to be placed in the body of a patient, introduced through a single access port, which are an extension of external robotic manipulators (). The continuity between external () and internal () robotic arms is guaranteed by means of a trans-abdominal magnetic connection () between the internal robotic arm integral with the external one. The trans-abdominal magnetic coupling not only guarantees a stable anchoring, but most of all it transfers degrees of freedom to the internal robotic arms, inducing the motion of internal magnets by means of the automatized motion of external magnets. It is also possible to reposition the internal robotic arms without requiring having to additionally perform incisions on the abdomen. Using the external robotic arms allows translating the internal ones on the entire abdomen thus providing a working space not bound to the point of insertion and theoretically unlimited.

Robotic platform for mini-invasive surgery

A robotic limb is described. The robotic limb has a closed tubular casing made of viscoelastic material defining a chamber containing an incompressible fluid. The closed tubular casing has a sheath formed by substantially inextensible intertwined wires. In the chamber there are groups of transverse actuators axially spaced from each other, connected to the sheath and adapted to reversibly contract the closed tubular casing at least partly in the radial direction. The robotic limb also has longitudinal actuators adapted to reversibly contract the closed tubular casing at least partly in the axial direction being connected to each of the groups of transverse actuators.

Bio-inspired continuous robotic limb

A robot having an overall structure inspired by theis described. The robot has soft arms joined in a radial manner to a central support. The soft arms have the capability of lengthening, shortening and wrapping around in a coil-shape manner. The extremely simple movements and coordination of the soft arms are effective because of the interaction between the single actions. For example during locomotion, while some arms act as a support for stability, the others provide for thrusting allowing the robot to advance. Once near the target, some arms provide for stability whereas the others can bend so as to wrap around and transport external entities.

Robot having soft arms for locomotion and grip purposes

A robotic arm especially suited for laparoscopic surgery, having a torsional joint and a flexural joint forming serially arranged joints is described. The joints provide respective degrees of freedom for the arm, which further receives drive means for such joints. The robotic arm also has transmission means placed between the drive means have and the joints. The transmission means a first and a second assembly of three gear wheels, preferably conical gear wheels, and a train of three additional gear wheels, preferably straight-cut gear wheels, which couple the first and second assembly to form a differential mechanism.

Robotic apparatus for minimally invasive surgery

An electromagnetic step-by-step wobbling micromotor comprises an inner component and an annular component being external to the inner one. The outer component may be a stator and the inner component a rotor, or vice versa. The inner component has three or more poles with a winding on each pole, and an external surface facing an internal surface of the outer component. During the operation of the micromotor each winding is powered. The external and internal surfaces have toothed surfaces. Each tooth has a peak radius which is different from the valley radius.

Electromagnetic step-by-step wobble-type micromotor

An endoscopic device for autonomous locomotion through a selected body cavity in a predetermined direction, the device comprising a hollowed, cylindrical body that extends between two, preferably, the front and rear, end portions, respectively. The body is made of a relatively elastic material and includes an anchor for temporarily and alternately attaching the end portions to a wall portion of the body cavity in synch with corresponding axial extensions and contractions of the body. The body incorporates a reinforcement structure distributed along its length that is substantially rigid in a radial direction and yields in an axial direction, the structure specifically comprising either a plurality of relatively rigid rings or at least one helical spring.

Self-propelled endoscopic device

A human skin moisture measuring device having an interdigitated resistive sensor formed on a plate-like transparent support is described, with a face designed to be placed into contact with the skin to be subjected to the moisture degree measurement. The device further comprises image sensing means turned towards the opposite face of the support and a lighting device arranged sideways relative to the support to direct the light radiation in the support at a prefixed angle. Means for processing the signal coming from the interdigitated resistive sensor and from the image sensing means give as output a value of the measured moisture degree that is normalized with respect to the actual surface of contact between skin and sensor.

Sensing moisture level of human skin

A method () of processing signal outputs of a plurality of topologically distinct sensors in response to stimuli is described. The method comprises obtaining () a plurality of temporal sensor outputs in parallel. Thereafter, features are extracted (), the features having dynamic behavior pattern. The extraction is performed in a topology consistent way by arithmetic processing in parallel of neighboring temporal sensor outputs. Furthermore, a quality of the extracted features is being determined.

Methods and systems for data processing and their applications

A teleoperated endoscopic capsule for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes inside an animal body cavity, comprising a body () with a plurality of locomotion modules () placed on its surface, suitable for moving said body in the body cavity. The capsule also comprises an energy source inside said body and a microcontroller in the body () for actuating the locomotion modules () on the basis of commands teletransmitted by an operator. A video camera is then provided for capturing images controlled by said microcontroller and a transceiver system for receiving the commands teletransmitted by the operator and for transmitting the images gained through the video camera.

Teleoperated endoscopic capsule equipped with active locomotion system

A non-invasive method for the electroporation of cells contained in a substrate wherein the cells are placed in contact with carbon nanotubes and then said substrate is subjected to the action of two orthogonal pulsed electric fields generated by means of two pairs of electrodes in contact with said substrate according to a specific time sequence in such a way that, when a pair of electrodes is active, the other pair of electrodes is deactivated and vice versa. A device for performing electroporation according to this method.

Non invasive method of electroporation mediated by carbon nanotubes and device for putting the method into practice

An endoscopic surgery device for the insertion and recovery of a haemostatic plug at the surgical site. The device comprises a tubular body suitable for slidingly housing the plug, and a plunger slidingly engageable within the tubular body so as to push the plug outside the body, and to position it at the surgical site. The plug is connected to a locator that is radio-opaque, has a suitable color, and has a specific weight that allows it to float relative to the internal organs, blood or other fluids present at the surgical site. A loop is provided at a distal end of the plunger and at a proximal end of the plunger, a first handle is provided for actuating the plunger so as to grip the ball and recover the plug after use by retracting the plunger inside the tubular body.

Endoscopic surgery device

Auxiliary forceps are provided for video-assisted minimally-invasive surgery, such as hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery, the forceps being intended for operation by a surgeon's non-dominant hand inserted through an incision for entering a patient's natural body cavity. The forceps comprises a plurality of actuating plates hinged elastically to one another and having a size and shape suitable for operation when held by the tips of two fingers. The forceps also has a plurality of jaws extending from each actuating plate, and a member for temporarily connecting the forceps to the surgeon's hand so as to maintain the forceps at an adjustable distance from the hand of not greater than a predetermined value. In addition, a structure is provided for housing the jaws relatively close to one another, within which the jaws are engaged during operation when the forceps is not in use.

Auxiliary forceps for hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery (HALS)

An endoscope system with a hollow cylinder and bellows moving mechanism is provided. The system includes a cylinder having a head unit mounted by a camera devices, a front fixing unit connected to the head unit which is installed to an outer circumference of the cylinder and fixed to an inner wall of an organ, a rear fixing unit slidably installed at the outer circumference of the cylinder and fixed to the inner wall of the organ, and a moving unit between the front fixing unit and the rear fixing unit for moving the head unit in the organ by an extension and contraction when the front fixing unit or the rear fixing unit fixes the head unit to the inner wall of the organ. The moving unit includes a double bellows and forms a hermetic space with the outer circumference surface of the cylinder.

Endoscope system with a hollow cylinder and a bellows moving mechanism

An endoscopic device for locomotion in a body cavity according to a prefixed advancing direction (A) comprising at least a variable length intermediate section () extending between a front end section () and a rear end section (). First and second clamping means () are integral to the front and rear section, for alternately grasping respective surrounding portions of wall (P) of the body cavity. Sucking means () are associated to the first and second clamping means for creating a depression sufficient to cause the body cavity wall portions to collapse within the first and second clamping means while they are in an open condition. Means for actuating alternate extensions and retractions of the intermediate section and actuating means () of the first and second clamping means are further provides for synchronous operation to generate a forward motion of the rear end section due to a retraction of the intermediate section, the wall portion (P) surrounding the first clamping means being firmly held therebetween, and to generate a forward motion of the front end section due to an extension of the intermediate section, the wall portion (P) surrounding the second clamping means being firmly held therebetween.

Endoscopic device for locomotion through the gastro-intestinal tract

A proportional valve is disclosed for controlling the outlet pressure of a fluid flowing therethrough. The valve comprises a valve body having an inlet port and an outlet port for the fluid. The valve also has an inner chamber, within which there is formed a valve seat that may be opened and closed variably by a shutter axially movable from and towards the valve seat. Movement of the shutter is controlled by a shape memory alloy (SMA) actuating member operating antagonistically to an elastic member, the temperature of the fluid being lower than the transition temperature of the shape memory alloy. The actuating member and the elastic member are connected to the body valve at opposite sides relative to the valve seat. A power control circuit is also provided for circulating an electric current through the actuating member so as to heat the same by Joule effect from a temperature lower than the transition temperature to one that is higher. At least one vent hole is formed in the valve body for putting a portion of the chamber upstream of the valve seat into fluid communication with the outside or a collection network. The actuating member is housed in that portion of chamber corresponding to the inlet port of the fluid, whereby a continuous flow of fluid around the actuating member is ensured for accelerating the cooling process. A closed-loop control circuit for the power control circuit controls the circulating current as a function of a pressure signal generated by fluid pressure sensing means and in such a way as to offset the retarding effect produced by the fluid during heating of the actuating member.

Proportional valve with shape memory alloy actuator

Growing community of inventors

Livorno, Italy

Paolo Dario