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MechE PhD Prospectus Defense: Jacob Rogatinsky
TITLE: A Soft Robotic Platform for Beating Heart Surgery
ABSTRACT: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Until recent years, therapeutic efforts have focused on the left side of the cardiovascular system. However, recent advances in imaging have provided evidence for the importance of right side therapies, necessitating safe and effective tools that can perform delicate procedures. In minimally-invasive cardiovascular procedures, clinicians rely on catheters with low dexterity and high aspect ratios to reach an anatomical target. However, the environment inside the beating heart presents a combination of challenges not experienced elsewhere in the body, including (1) scaling issues (i.e., from blood vessels a few millimeters in diameter to heart chambers at the centimeter scale), (2) a motile environment, and (3) remote tool operation. These challenges make it difficult for interventional tools to maneuver dexterously and apply significant forces from the distal tip of the catheter to an intracardiac target. Multiple approaches have been explored to address these challenges. For example, robotic motion compensation addresses (2) by enabling catheters to move in concert with the heart walls, thereby reducing relative tip motion. However, this technology requires high quality, real time imaging that can be expensive and unreliable. Catheter design modifications and novel actuation methods address (1) and (3) by introducing smaller and more dexterous cathers, but often struggle with motile environments or distal force transmission. Finally, cardiac rhythm pacing addresses (2), but negative effects on patient physiology over long durations limit its use. There remains a dearth of devices and techniques that address all three challenges at once, and in a safe manner. The goal of this research is to address all three challenges in a single robotic platform through the design of novel soft and collapsible structures. The combination of these mechanisms allows for self-stabilization inside the entrance of the heart, and robotic guidance of existing interventional tools toward a target site. Each of the constituent mechanisms were designed, fabricated, and characterized for application inside the cardiovascular system. The millimeter-scale mechanisms were then integrated into a full robotic platform to perform two exemplar procedures inside the right atrium. In both in-vitro and ex-vivo settings, the platform provided enough dexterity to reach multiple anatomical targets, enough stability to maintain constant contact on highly motile anatomy, and enough mechanical leverage to generate newton-level forces. Because the device addresses the major challenges of beating-heart minimally-invasive intracardiac intervention, it may enable the further development of novel catheter-based interventions. Furthermore, a mix of additive 2D and 3D manufacturing with readily-available materials makes the device a cost-effective option, which may enable wider acceptance, especially for hospitals with limited resources. Future work will explore the use of this robotic platform in a live animal environment in an effort to validate its function in a physiological scenario.
COMMITTEE: ADVISOR/CHAIR Professor Tommaso Ranzani, ME/BME/MSE; Professor Sheila Russo, ME/MSE; Professor Katherine Yanhang Zhang, ME/BME/MSE; Professor Roberto Tron, ME/SE
| When | 9:30 am - 11:30 am on 20 July 2023 |
|---|---|
| Building | ENG 245, 110 Cummington Mall |