Soft robotic devices have desirable traits for applications in minimally invasive surgery (MIS), but many interdisciplinary challenges remain unsolved. To understand current technologies, we carried out a keyword search using the Web of Science and Scopus databases, applied inclusion and exclusion criteria, and compared several characteristics of the soft robotic devices for MIS in the resulting articles. There was low diversity in the device designs and a wide-ranging level of detail regarding their capabilities. We propose a standardized comparison methodology to characterize soft robotics for various MIS applications, which will aid designers producing the next generation of devices.

Soft Robotics in Minimally Invasive Surgery.

Soft pneumatic actuators and motor-based mechanisms being concomitant with the cumbersome appendages have many challenges to making the independent robotic system with compact and lightweight configuration. Meanwhile, shape memory actuators have shown a promising alternative solution in many engineering applications ranging from artificial muscle to aerospace industry. However, one of the main limitations of such systems is their inherent softness resulting in a small actuation force, which prevents them from more effective applications. This issue can be solved by combining shape memory actuators and the mechanism of stiffness modulation. As a first, this study describes a shape memory alloy-based soft gripper composed of three identical fingers with variable stiffness for adaptive grasping in low stiffness state and effective holding in high stiffness state. Each finger with two hinges is fabricated through integrating soft composite actuator with stiffness changeable material where each hinge ...

Shape Memory Alloy-Based Soft Gripper with Variable Stiffness for Compliant and Effective Grasping.

Machines are systems that harness input power to extend or advance function. Fundamentally, machines are based on the integration of materials with mechanisms to accomplish tasks-such as generating motion or lifting an object. An emerging research paradigm is the design, synthesis, and integration of responsive materials within or as machines. Herein, a particular focus is the integration of responsive materials to enable robotic (machine) functions such as gripping, lifting, or motility (walking, crawling, swimming, and flying). Key functional considerations of responsive materials in machine implementations are response time, cyclability (frequency and ruggedness), sizing, payload capacity, amenability to mechanical programming, performance in extreme environments, and autonomy. This review summarizes the material transformation mechanisms, mechanical design, and robotic integration of responsive materials including shape memory alloys (SMAs), piezoelectrics, dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs), ionic electroactive polymers (IEAPs), pneumatics and hydraulics systems, shape memory polymers (SMPs), hydrogels, and liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) and networks (LCNs). Structural and geometrical fabrication of these materials as wires, coils, films, tubes, cones, unimorphs, bimorphs, and printed elements enables differentiated mechanical responses and consistently enables and extends functional use.

Materials as Machines

Curved shape memory alloy-based soft actuators and application to soft gripper

Soft pneumatic actuators (SPAs) are widely studied and applied in the field of soft robotics. To expand their applications, the SPAs should be purpose-built to generate application-specific complex...

Bioinspired Three-Dimensional-Printed Helical Soft Pneumatic Actuators and Their Characterization.

Recently, robots have become a topic of interest with regard to their functionality as they need to complete a large number of diverse tasks in a variety of environments. When using traditional mechanical components, many parts are needed to realize complex deformations, such as motors, hinges, and cranks. To produce complex deformations, this work introduces a smart soft composite torsional actuator using a single shape memory alloy (SMA) wire without any additional elements. The proposed twisting actuator is composed of a torsionally prestrained SMA wire embedded at the center of a polydimethylsiloxane matrix that twists by applying an electric current upon joule heating of the SMA wire. This report shows the actuator design, fabrication method, and results for the twisting angle and actuation moment. Results show that a higher electric current helps reach the maximum twisting angle faster, but that if the current is too low or too high, it will not be able to reach its maximum deformation. Also, both the twisting angle and the twisting moment increase with a large applied twisting prestrain, but this increase has an asymptotic behavior. However, results for both the width and the thickness of the actuator show that a larger width and thickness reduce the maximum actuation angle of the actuator. This paper also presents a new mechanism for an SMA-actuated active catheter using only two SMA wires with a total length of 170 mm to bend the tip of the catheter in multiple directions. The fabricated active catheter's maximum twisting angle is 270°, and the maximum bending curvature is 0.02 mm−1.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0964-1726/24/12/125033/pdf

A smart soft actuator using a single shape memory alloy for twisting actuation

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A smart soft actuator using a single shape memory alloy for twisting actuation