Flexible Robotics in Medicine. A Design Journey of Motion Generation Mechanisms and Biorobotic System Development

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Slender snake-like endoscopic robots in surgeryChapter 2: Prototyping soft origami quad-bellows robots from single-bellows characterization Chapter 3: Cable-driven flexible endoscope utilizing diamond-shaped perforations: FlexDiamond Chapter 4: Flexible steerable manipulator utilizing complementary configuration of multiple routing grooves and ball joints for stable omnidirectionalChapter 5: Modular origami joint operator to create bendable motions with multiple radii Chapter 6: Handheld flexible robot with concentric tubes aiming for intraocular proceduresChapter 7: Tendon routing and anchoring for cable-driven single-port surgical manipulators with spring backbones and luminal constraintsChapter 8: Compliant bending tubular mechanisms with variable groove patterns for flexible robotic drilling delivery Chapter 9: Tendon-driven linkage for steerable guide of flexible bending manipulationChapter 10: Soft-bodied flexible bending mechanism with silent shape memory alloys aiming for robotic endoscopyChapter 11: Comparative mechanical analysis for flexible bending manipulators with quad-tendon antagonistic pairsChapter 12: Flexible robotic platform with multiple-bending tendon-driven mechanism Chapter 13: Design evolution of a flexible robotic bending end-effector for transluminal explorations Chapter 14: Force sensing in compact concentric tube mechanism with optical fibers Chapter 15: Electromechanical characterization of magnetic responsive and conductive soft polymer Chapter 16: Robotic transluminal Pan-and-Tilt Scope Chapter 17: Single-port multichannel multi-degree-of-freedom robot with variable stiffness for natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery Chapter 18: EndoGoose: flexible and steerable endoscopic forceps with actively pose-retaining bendable sections Chapter 19: Flexible drill manipulator utilizing different rolling sliding joints for transoral drilling through the tracheal tissue Chapter 20: Thermo-responsive hydrogel-based circular valve embedded with shape-memory actuatorsChapter 21: OmniFlex: omnidirectional flexible hand-held endoscopic manipulator with spheroidal joint

Authors

Hongliang Ren Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering Department, National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore. Hongliang Ren is an associate professor at the Electronic Engineering Department, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Hong Kong and adjunct associate professor at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, National University of Singapore. He served as an associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Automation Science & Engineering (T-ASE) and Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing (MBEC). He has navigated his academic journey through the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Johns Hopkins University, Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, Children's National Medical Center, United States, and the National University of Singapore. He is currently Associate Professor, Department of Electronic Engineering at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering at the National University of Singapore. His areas of interest include biorobotics, intelligent control, medical mechatronics, soft continuum robots, soft sensors, and multisensory learning in medical robotics.