Project Focus

This project focuses on the design of micro-pillars with focus on understanding adhesion and tractive properties. Understanding such key mechanics allows for tuning these pillars and micro-patterned surfaces for multiple applications from in vivo surgical robotics, to cell manipulation. Collaborators on this project have included Dr. Kurt Maute (CU-Boulder Aerospace Engineering Sciences) and Dr. Rong Long (CU-Boulder Mechanical Engineering). Project funding and recent peer-reviewed papers are listed below.

Three-Dimensional Microscale Imaging and Measurement of Soft Material Contact Interfaces Under Quasi-Static Normal Indentation and Shear, Langmuir. (Abstract, PDF)

IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering (2012): The Design and Characterization of a Testing Platform for Quantitative Evaluation of Tread Performance on Multiple Biological Substrates

Abstract: In this study, an experimental platform is developed to quantitatively measure the performance of robotic wheel treads in a dynamic environment. The platform imposes a dynamic driving condition for a single robot wheel, where the wheel is rotated on a translating substrate, thereby inducing slip. The normal force of...

Surgical Endoscopy (2012): Surgical Evaluation of a Novel Tethered Robotic Capsule Endoscope using Micro-Patterned Treads

Abstract: The state-of-the-art technology for gastrointestinal (GI) tract exploration is a capsule endoscope (CE). Capsule endoscopes are pill-sized devices that provide visual feedback of the GI tract as they move passively through the patient. These passive devices could benefit from a mobility system enabling maneuverability and controllability. Potential benefits of...

ASME Journal of Medical Devices (2010): Micropatterned Treads for In vivo Robotic Mobility

Abstract: Despite revolutionary advances in many fields of medicine, there are no active mobile in vivo devices commercially available, or in use, today. Several research groups are actively looking at a number of mobility methods in a number of lumens but little commercial work has been done. While robotic surgery...

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