1. Endovascular Project Proposal
for MAE 207
Mohamad Ramzi Abdul Majit, Tor Anderson, Neeraj Dhole, and Tom Kaliski
University of California, San Diego
Abstract—Development of controllable soft robot to travel in
human aorta.
I. HYPOTHESIS
Developing a soft, minimally invasive, and cost effective
robot capable of maneuvering through an aorta with directional
steering.
II. BACKGROUND
There are many corrective medical procedures which in-
volve the aorta and femoral artery, such as stent placement for
aortic aneurysm repair [1], percutaneous transluminal coronary
angioplasty [2], and thoracic aortic aneurysm imaging [3].
The commonality between how these procedures are currently
performed is to introduce a thin wire-like device via the
femoral artery, which is driven up to the aorta by applying an
external force and internally actuated steering. These current
methods require expensive medical technology and a trained
medical professional to deliver the stent [4], perform patching,
or capture an image. The wire device is also quite invasive
from an external perspective, which motivates the need for
a small device which is completely internally actuated and
capable of navigating to the problem area performing the
surgical action or capturing an image.
III. PRIOR WORK
Robotic systems currently used for medical purposes rely
on Shape memory alloys or cables for actuation. Research has
been done to make them autonomous [5] but still commercially
available systems require a trained doctor to operate them,
this can be linked to the inherent problem with their rigid
construction which can lead to complications. The current
soft robotic systems designed for medical purposes mainly
concentrate on robotic arms [6], which cant be used for deep
minimally invasive procedures as they cant be inserted into the
deep cavities of a human body. The locomotion strategy we
are using has been studied for in pipe Shape Memory Alloy
spring actuated robots[7].
IV. PLANNED APPROACH
We decided to fabricate our design concepts through silicone
molding and 3D soft material printing integrated with a four
valve fluid control board operated with an Arduino Mega.
After fabrication we have three testing phases. Phase 1 will
be testing the anchoring capabilities of each design in a
plastic tube. Phase 2 consist of testing each design with the
connecting elongation actuator. Lastly, phase 3 is testing these
(a) Design 1 (b) Design 2
Fig. 1. Anchor concept designs
designs in a plastic tube with a water pump to simulate blood
flow resistance. In addition, the water will be substituted with
another fluid with similar viscosity to blood.
V. SCHEMATIC
For our first design concept we have two initial concepts
based on an inchworm motion. The two designs are shown in
figure 1. On the left, the ring concept with a rigid or semi-
rigid ring that can inflate its outer surface to anchor the walls
of the aorta while the blood flows in the center. On the right
we have the prone concept with arms that reach out to the
walls of the aorta to anchor while the blood flows around the
central body. These two anchor designs will be attached by
an actuator capable of elongating and shorten to create the
inchworm-like movement.
REFERENCES
[1] MedlinePlus, “MS Windows NT aortic aneurysm repair,” 2014.
[2] MedlinePlus, “MS Windows NT percutaneous transluminal coronary
angioplasty,” 2012.
[3] Medscape, “MS Windows NT thoracic aortic aneurysm imaging,” 2015.
[4] B. S. Specialists, “MS Windows NT deployment of an endovascular graft
in an abdominal aortic aneurysm,” 2012.
[5] J. Jayender, M. Azizian, and R. V. Patel, “Autonomous image-guided
robot-assisted active catheter insertion,” Robotics, IEEE Transactions on,
vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 858–871, 2008.
[6] M. Cianchetti, T. Ranzani, G. Gerboni, I. De Falco, C. Laschi, and
A. Menciassi, “Stiff-flop surgical manipulator: mechanical design and
experimental characterization of the single module,” in Intelligent Robots
and Systems (IROS), 2013 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on,
pp. 3576–3581, IEEE, 2013.
[7] I. Virgala, A. Gmiterko, and M. Kelemen, “Motion analysis of in-pipe
robot based on sma spring actuator,” Journal of Automation and Control,
vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 21–25, 2013.
![Endovascular Project Proposal
for MAE 207
Mohamad Ramzi Abdul Majit, Tor Anderson, Neeraj Dhole, and Tom Kaliski
University of California, San Diego
Abstract—Development of controllable soft robot to travel in
human aorta.
I. HYPOTHESIS
Developing a soft, minimally invasive, and cost effective
robot capable of maneuvering through an aorta with directional
steering.
II. BACKGROUND
There are many corrective medical procedures which in-
volve the aorta and femoral artery, such as stent placement for
aortic aneurysm repair [1], percutaneous transluminal coronary
angioplasty [2], and thoracic aortic aneurysm imaging [3].
The commonality between how these procedures are currently
performed is to introduce a thin wire-like device via the
femoral artery, which is driven up to the aorta by applying an
external force and internally actuated steering. These current
methods require expensive medical technology and a trained
medical professional to deliver the stent [4], perform patching,
or capture an image. The wire device is also quite invasive
from an external perspective, which motivates the need for
a small device which is completely internally actuated and
capable of navigating to the problem area performing the
surgical action or capturing an image.
III. PRIOR WORK
Robotic systems currently used for medical purposes rely
on Shape memory alloys or cables for actuation. Research has
been done to make them autonomous [5] but still commercially
available systems require a trained doctor to operate them,
this can be linked to the inherent problem with their rigid
construction which can lead to complications. The current
soft robotic systems designed for medical purposes mainly
concentrate on robotic arms [6], which cant be used for deep
minimally invasive procedures as they cant be inserted into the
deep cavities of a human body. The locomotion strategy we
are using has been studied for in pipe Shape Memory Alloy
spring actuated robots[7].
IV. PLANNED APPROACH
We decided to fabricate our design concepts through silicone
molding and 3D soft material printing integrated with a four
valve fluid control board operated with an Arduino Mega.
After fabrication we have three testing phases. Phase 1 will
be testing the anchoring capabilities of each design in a
plastic tube. Phase 2 consist of testing each design with the
connecting elongation actuator. Lastly, phase 3 is testing these
(a) Design 1 (b) Design 2
Fig. 1. Anchor concept designs
designs in a plastic tube with a water pump to simulate blood
flow resistance. In addition, the water will be substituted with
another fluid with similar viscosity to blood.
V. SCHEMATIC
For our first design concept we have two initial concepts
based on an inchworm motion. The two designs are shown in
figure 1. On the left, the ring concept with a rigid or semi-
rigid ring that can inflate its outer surface to anchor the walls
of the aorta while the blood flows in the center. On the right
we have the prone concept with arms that reach out to the
walls of the aorta to anchor while the blood flows around the
central body. These two anchor designs will be attached by
an actuator capable of elongating and shorten to create the
inchworm-like movement.
REFERENCES
[1] MedlinePlus, “MS Windows NT aortic aneurysm repair,” 2014.
[2] MedlinePlus, “MS Windows NT percutaneous transluminal coronary
angioplasty,” 2012.
[3] Medscape, “MS Windows NT thoracic aortic aneurysm imaging,” 2015.
[4] B. S. Specialists, “MS Windows NT deployment of an endovascular graft
in an abdominal aortic aneurysm,” 2012.
[5] J. Jayender, M. Azizian, and R. V. Patel, “Autonomous image-guided
robot-assisted active catheter insertion,” Robotics, IEEE Transactions on,
vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 858–871, 2008.
[6] M. Cianchetti, T. Ranzani, G. Gerboni, I. De Falco, C. Laschi, and
A. Menciassi, “Stiff-flop surgical manipulator: mechanical design and
experimental characterization of the single module,” in Intelligent Robots
and Systems (IROS), 2013 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on,
pp. 3576–3581, IEEE, 2013.
[7] I. Virgala, A. Gmiterko, and M. Kelemen, “Motion analysis of in-pipe
robot based on sma spring actuator,” Journal of Automation and Control,
vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 21–25, 2013.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/0fff7ba3-5b03-453d-84d4-0688fbfc3e78-160503004450/85/MAE_207__Endovascular_Project-1-320.jpg)
