Over the past few decades, robotic technologies have been widely introduced into different medical applications, such as surgical operation and rehabilitation engineering, to improve the efficiency and quality of medical treatment. However, those robots need to interact with humans and manipulate their complex structure and internal organs via small openings and hence, they need to be more flexible and intelligent than conventional robots.
In robotic surgery, medical practitioners control the movements of the robots by manipulating sophisticated instruments and looking into images feedback by endoscopic cameras. Hence, they don't have direct access to the anatomical areas and eye-in-hand coordination. This represents a big challenge for the current sensing, actuation and control strategies. To solve these problems, many researchers have introduced biologically inspired techniques into medical robots. For example, snake-like continuum robots are used to achieve flexible bending motions in minimally invasive surgery, while insect-inspired exoskeleton robots can provide walking assistance to patients with disabilities. The imitation of biological systems is the future of medical robotics as it will allow to create more efficient systems.
Bio-robotics is an interdisciplinary science that combines biomedical engineering, cybernetics and robotics to develop novel systems that integrate biology with mechanical devices that imitate biological systems. Conventional manufacturing methods are not precise enough to allow the realization of machines that perfectly imitate biological systems. Moreover, commercial materials cannot exactly reproduce the mechanical proprieties of biological systems. However, thanks to the rapid development of 3D printing technologies and materials sciences in recent years, new bio-inspired solutions can be more easily realized, which has also promoted the application of bionic technologies in medical robotics. Therefore, this Research Topic aims at presenting the latest developments and achievements of bio-inspired technologies with the overall aim to support the future research directions within the field of medical robotics, including structural design, modelling, manufacturing, sensing, actuation, control, etc.
In this Research Topic, we welcome original research articles and review articles focusing on the latest developments of bio-inspired medical robotics. Topics of interest include and are not limited to:
- Bio-inspired structural design of medical robots;
- 3D-printed medical robots
- Novel fabrication methods for bio-inspired medical robots
- Bionic/micro sensors and actuators
- Modeling and control methods for bio-inspired robots
Over the past few decades, robotic technologies have been widely introduced into different medical applications, such as surgical operation and rehabilitation engineering, to improve the efficiency and quality of medical treatment. However, those robots need to interact with humans and manipulate their complex structure and internal organs via small openings and hence, they need to be more flexible and intelligent than conventional robots.
In robotic surgery, medical practitioners control the movements of the robots by manipulating sophisticated instruments and looking into images feedback by endoscopic cameras. Hence, they don't have direct access to the anatomical areas and eye-in-hand coordination. This represents a big challenge for the current sensing, actuation and control strategies. To solve these problems, many researchers have introduced biologically inspired techniques into medical robots. For example, snake-like continuum robots are used to achieve flexible bending motions in minimally invasive surgery, while insect-inspired exoskeleton robots can provide walking assistance to patients with disabilities. The imitation of biological systems is the future of medical robotics as it will allow to create more efficient systems.
Bio-robotics is an interdisciplinary science that combines biomedical engineering, cybernetics and robotics to develop novel systems that integrate biology with mechanical devices that imitate biological systems. Conventional manufacturing methods are not precise enough to allow the realization of machines that perfectly imitate biological systems. Moreover, commercial materials cannot exactly reproduce the mechanical proprieties of biological systems. However, thanks to the rapid development of 3D printing technologies and materials sciences in recent years, new bio-inspired solutions can be more easily realized, which has also promoted the application of bionic technologies in medical robotics. Therefore, this Research Topic aims at presenting the latest developments and achievements of bio-inspired technologies with the overall aim to support the future research directions within the field of medical robotics, including structural design, modelling, manufacturing, sensing, actuation, control, etc.
In this Research Topic, we welcome original research articles and review articles focusing on the latest developments of bio-inspired medical robotics. Topics of interest include and are not limited to:
- Bio-inspired structural design of medical robots;
- 3D-printed medical robots
- Novel fabrication methods for bio-inspired medical robots
- Bionic/micro sensors and actuators
- Modeling and control methods for bio-inspired robots