Explore more about: Robotic Intervention

A beating heart makes for a formidable surgical arena, but a new robotic catheter could someday equip surgeons to operate in the cardiac environment with greater ease.

Navigating the labyrinthine vasculature of the brain with standard surgical instruments can be incredibly challenging, even for the steadiest of hands. But with some robotic assistance, brain surgeons could potentially operate with far greater ease.

Researchers built a motor that could operate a robotic device made from non-magnetic materials and was powered by the magnetic field produced by the MRI.

In a high-tech lab on Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood campus in Baltimore, engineers have been building a robot that may be able to stitch back together the broken vessels in your belly and at some point maybe your brain, no doctor needed. Source: The Baltimore Sun

Equipped with a color 3D camera, an inertial measurement sensor, and its own on-board computer, a newly improved robotic cane could offer blind and visually impaired users a new way to navigate indoors. Development of the device was co-funded by NIBIB the NEI. Source: National Eye Institute.

In Made of Stronger Stuff, psychologist Kimberley Wilson and doctor Xand van Tulleken learn how Jason became the first person in the world with a neural enabled prosthetic hand, and as a result, regained the sensation of touch in his fingers. Source: BBC Radio Podcast.

A new technique funded by NIBIB and developed by University of Minnesota researchers allows 3D printing of hydrogel-based sensors directly on the surface of organs, such as lungs—even as they expand and contract. The technology was developed to support robot-assisted medical treatments.

A team at ClearCam, Inc., with funding from the NIBIB and ties to the University of Texas at Austin, designed a device for wiping a laparoscope lens clean, much the same way that a wiper blade clears a fogged up window.

Bioengineers have created a blood-drawing robot that performed as well or better than technicians. The device could increase blood draw success from difficult- to-find veins and allow healthcare workers more time to treat patients.

What factors affect how human touch perceives softness, like the feel of pressing your fingertip against a marshmallow, a piece of clay or a rubber ball? By exploring this question in detail, researchers discovered clever tricks to design materials that replicate different levels of perceived softness. The findings provide fundamental insights into designing tactile materials and haptic interfaces that can recreate realistic touch sensations.