Fiberbots: Robotic fibers for high-precision minimally invasive surgery
Abdelaziz, Mohamed E. M. K., Zhao, Jinshi, Rosa, Bruno Gil, Lee, Hyun-Taek, Simon, Daniel, Vyas, Khushi, Li, Bing, Koguna, Hanifa, Li, Yue, Demircali, Ali Anil, Uvet, Huseyin, Gencoglan, Gulsum, Akcay, Arzu, Elriedy, Mohamed, Kinross, James, Dasgupta, Ranan, Takats, Zoltan, Yeatman, Eric, Yang, Guang-Zhong, Temelkuran, Burak
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.
- Journal
- SCIENCE ADVANCES
- Year
- 2024
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 3
- ISSN
- 2375-2548
- DOI
- 10.1126/sciadv.adj1984
- WoS UID
- WOS:001188370500010