New robotics technologies, including materials, structure design, sensing, and actuation, have significantly contributed to medical advancements over the past few decades. Commercial rigid robotic platforms, such as the DaVinci laparoscopic system, have successfully succeeded in clinical applications. Nevertheless, soft materials, with their compliant nature, allows them to interact conformity and safely with human tissues. By incorporating soft materials into medical robotics, new possibilities for biomedical applications are being explored, particularly in cases where soft interactions with human tissues are preferred.
Due to the hyper-elastic behavior of soft materials and significant dependence on the objective and application of the soft medical robots, it is challenging to accurately establish mathematical models to predict, estimate and control their configurations and motions against various environments inside the human body. Some researchers have done some relevant studies for specific applications of soft medical robots. However, it is not generalizable and lacks a unified methodology, especially in many challenging clinical situations. In addition, future soft medical robots are recommended to have the following characteristics: fully bio-compatible materials, modularity, self-configuration, integration of sensing and actuation, adjustable stiffness, etc.
This Research Topic welcomes original research and review articles focusing on the latest developments in soft medical robotics around design, fabrication, modeling, sensing and control. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Soft robotics in surgery
- Smart soft materials for actuators and sensors
- Bio-robotics and intelligent systems
- Novel structural design or fabrication method for medical robots
- Medical mechatronics
- Deployable motion generation
- Interventional instruments
- Human tissue-robot compliant interaction
- Intelligent sensing systems
- Soft actuators and sensors
- Continuum and soft robots and sensors
- Artificial intelligence in soft robotics
Keywords:
Medical robotics, Compliant interaction, Smart materials, Perceptions, Actuators, Mechanism design, Soft robots
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
New robotics technologies, including materials, structure design, sensing, and actuation, have significantly contributed to medical advancements over the past few decades. Commercial rigid robotic platforms, such as the DaVinci laparoscopic system, have successfully succeeded in clinical applications. Nevertheless, soft materials, with their compliant nature, allows them to interact conformity and safely with human tissues. By incorporating soft materials into medical robotics, new possibilities for biomedical applications are being explored, particularly in cases where soft interactions with human tissues are preferred.
Due to the hyper-elastic behavior of soft materials and significant dependence on the objective and application of the soft medical robots, it is challenging to accurately establish mathematical models to predict, estimate and control their configurations and motions against various environments inside the human body. Some researchers have done some relevant studies for specific applications of soft medical robots. However, it is not generalizable and lacks a unified methodology, especially in many challenging clinical situations. In addition, future soft medical robots are recommended to have the following characteristics: fully bio-compatible materials, modularity, self-configuration, integration of sensing and actuation, adjustable stiffness, etc.
This Research Topic welcomes original research and review articles focusing on the latest developments in soft medical robotics around design, fabrication, modeling, sensing and control. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Soft robotics in surgery
- Smart soft materials for actuators and sensors
- Bio-robotics and intelligent systems
- Novel structural design or fabrication method for medical robots
- Medical mechatronics
- Deployable motion generation
- Interventional instruments
- Human tissue-robot compliant interaction
- Intelligent sensing systems
- Soft actuators and sensors
- Continuum and soft robots and sensors
- Artificial intelligence in soft robotics
Keywords:
Medical robotics, Compliant interaction, Smart materials, Perceptions, Actuators, Mechanism design, Soft robots
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.