AUTHOR=Amadeo Tomas , Van Lewen Daniel , Janke Taylor , Ranzani Tommaso , Devaiah Anand , Upadhyay Urvashi , Russo Sheila TITLE=Soft Robotic Deployable Origami Actuators for Neurosurgical Brain Retraction JOURNAL=Frontiers in Robotics and AI VOLUME=8 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/robotics-and-ai/articles/10.3389/frobt.2021.731010 DOI=10.3389/frobt.2021.731010 ISSN=2296-9144 ABSTRACT=

Metallic tools such as graspers, forceps, spatulas, and clamps have been used in proximity to delicate neurological tissue and the risk of damage to this tissue is a primary concern for neurosurgeons. Novel soft robotic technologies have the opportunity to shift the design paradigm for these tools towards safer and more compliant, minimally invasive methods. Here, we present a pneumatically actuated, origami-inspired deployable brain retractor aimed at atraumatic surgical workspace generation inside the cranial cavity. We discuss clinical requirements, design, fabrication, analytical modeling, experimental characterization, and in-vitro validation of the proposed device on a brain model.