Magnetic Tentacles
Tiny tentacles a few mm in diameter and have a very soft, highly flexible body made up of a series of tiny magnets
A highly flexible body controlled by external robotic magnetic arms
We are exploring the idea of using miniature magnetic tentacles to reach many areas of the body that are currently difficult for surgeons to access. Potential uses could be in lung tumour biopsies or cardiovascular surgery, where currently the risk of tissue perforations is very high at 17%. The tiny tentacles are few mm in diameter and have a very soft, highly flexible body made up of a series of tiny magnets, embedded along their length that can be controlled by external robotic magnetic arms. We can control the tentacle shape or stiffen the body and control the tip. We are still working on how to drive the device from the outside and trialling different options.
Relevant Publications
Personalized magnetic tentacles for targeted photothermal cancer therapy in peripheral lungs
Pittiglio, G., Chandler, J. H., da Veiga, T., Koszowska, Z., Brockdorff, M., Lloyd, P., Barry, K. L., Harris, R. A., McLaughlan, J., Pompili, C., & Valdastri, P.
Nature Communications Engineering, 2(1), 50. 2023.
Independently Actuated Soft Magnetic Manipulators for Bimanual Operations in Confined Anatomical Cavities
Koszowska, Z., Brockdorff, M., da Veiga, T., Pittiglio, G., Lloyd, P., Khan-White, T., Harris, R. A., Moor, J. W., Chandler, J. H., & Valdastri, P< br> Advanced Intelligent Systems. 2023.
Independent Control of Two Magnetic Robots using External Permanent Magnets: A Feasibility Study
J. Davy, G. Pittiglio, T. da Veiga, J. H. Chandler, P. Valdastri,
Proceedings of the International Symposium on Medical Robotics, Atlanta, GA, USA, April 2023.
A Magnetically-Actuated Coiling Soft Robot with Variable Stiffness
P. Lloyd, T. Thomas, V. Venkiteswaran, G. Pittiglio, J. H. Chandler, P. Valdastri, S. Misra, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2023, Vol. 8, No. 6, pp. 3262-3269.
Six-degree-of-freedom Localization Under Multiple Permanent Magnets Actuation
T. da Veiga, G. Pittiglio, M. Brockdorff, J. H. Chandler, P. Valdastri, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2023, Vol. 8, No. 6, pp. 3422-3429.
Closed Loop Static Control of Multi-Magnet Soft Continuum Robots
G. Pittiglio, A. Orekhov, T. da Veiga, S. Calò, J. Chandler, N. Simaan, P. Valdastri,
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2023
Independent and Hybrid Magnetic Manipulation for Full Body Controlled Soft Continuum Robots
K. Abolfathi, J. A. Rosales Medina, H. Khaksar, J. Chandler, K. McDonald-Maier, K. Ashkan, P. Valdastri, A. Kafash Hoshiar, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2023, in press, accepted 18/04/2023.
A Framework for Simulation of Magnetic Soft Robots using the Material Point Method
J. Davy, P. Lloyd, J. H. Chandler, P. Valdastri, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2023, in press, 2023, Vol. 8, No. 6, pp. 3470-3477.
Optimization and fabrication of programmable domains for Soft Magnetic Robots: A Review.
Bacchetti A, Lloyd P, Taccola S, Fakhoury E, Cochran S, Harris RA, Valdastri P, Chandler JH. Frontiers in Robotics and AI. 2022.
Collaborative Magnetic Manipulation via Two Robotically Actuated Permanent Magnets
G. Pittiglio, M. Brockdorff, T. da Veiga, J. Davy, J. Chandler and P. Valdastri, IEEE Transactions On Robotics, 2022.
Magnetic Soft Continuum Robots With Braided Reinforcement
P. Lloyd, O. Onaizah, G. Pittiglio, D. Vithanage, J. Chandler and P. Valdastri,
IEEE Robotics And Automation Letters, 2022.
Patient-Specific Magnetic Catheters for Atraumatic Autonomous Endoscopy
G. Pittiglio, P. Lloyd, T. da Veiga, O. Onaizah, C. Pompili, J. Chandler and P. Valdastri,
Soft Robotics, 2022.
Evolutionary Inverse Material Identification: Bespoke Characterization of Soft Materials Using a Metaheuristic Algorithm
M. Di Lecce, O. Onaizah, P. Lloyd, J. Chandler and P. Valdastri
,Frontiers In Robotics And AI 8, 2022.
Feasibility of Fiber Reinforcement Within Magnetically Actuated Soft Continuum Robots
P. Lloyd, Z. Koszowska, M. Di Lecce, O. Onaizah, J. Chandler and P. Valdastri
Frontiers In Robotics And AI, 2021
T. da Veiga, J. Chandler, P. Lloyd, G. Pittiglio, N. Wilkinson, A. Hoshiar, R. Harris, P. Valdastri, “Challenges of continuum robots in clinical context: a review“,
Progress in Biomedical Engineering, 2020
Progress in Biomedical Engineering, 2020
P. R. Lloyd, A. K. Hoshiar, T. da Veiga, A. Attanasio, N. Marahrens, J. H. Chandler, P. Valdastri, “A learnt approach for the design of magnetically actuated shape forming soft tentacle robots”
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2020, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 3937-3944.
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2020, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 3937-3944.