Fiberbots: Robotic fibers for high-precision minimally invasive surgery
File(s)sciadv.adj1984.pdf (7.12 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Precise manipulation of flexible surgical tools is crucial in minimally invasive surgical procedures, necessitating a miniature and flexible robotic probe that can precisely direct the surgical instruments. In this work, we developed a polymer-based robotic fiber with a thermal actuation mechanism by local heating along the sides of a single fiber. The fiber robot was fabricated by highly scalable fiber drawing technology using common low-cost materials. This low-profile (below 2 millimeters in diameter) robotic fiber exhibits remarkable motion precision (below 50 micrometers) and repeatability. We developed control algorithms coupling the robot with endoscopic instruments, demonstrating high-resolution in situ molecular and morphological tissue mapping. We assess its practicality and safety during in vivo laparoscopic surgery on a porcine model. High-precision motion of the fiber robot delivered endoscopically facilitates the effective use of cellular-level intraoperative tissue identification and ablation technologies, potentially enabling precise removal of cancer in challenging surgical sites.
Date Issued
2024-01-19
Date Acceptance
2023-12-20
Citation
Science Advances, 2024, 10 (3)
ISSN
2375-2548
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Journal / Book Title
Science Advances
Volume
10
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
© 2024 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
eadj1984