Choosing new ways to chew

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Dynamic Evaluation of Forces During Mastication

A reproduction of the human masticatory system is presented here to evaluate mechanical properties of foods, relevant design elements of the simulator, and the overall practicality of the system. The model incorporates a cam-driven linkage system providing realistic motion of the mandible, with reaction forces measured by strain gages on two axes to record real time changes in food structure. The experiment demonstrates that the construction of a mastication simulator is feasible and allows texture profiling and discrimination between similar foods

HUMANOID ROBOT: ISSUES AND DESIGN

This paper discusses a simplified issues and style of Humanoid Robot with 8 DOF. The most objective is to research the theoretical and practical challenges involved in making it. The paper emphasis on bringing down the control complexity by reducing the amount of actuators used. This successively simplifies the whole design processes and reduces the assembly cost. It also describes the steadiness issues and different walking phases intimately. The proposed robot finds the place in between simple, miniaturized humanoids and therefore the most advanced, sophisticated humanoids. Albeit the market size remains small at this moment, applied fields of robots are gradually spreading from the manufacturing industry to the others in recent years. One can now easily expect that applications of robots will expand into the primary and therefore the third industrial fields together of the important components to support our society within the 21st century. There also raises strong anticipations in Japan that robots for the private use will coexist with humans and supply supports like the help for the housework, care of the aged and therefore the physically handicapped, since Japan is that the fastest aging society within the world

DEVELOPMENT OF A SOFT PNEUMATIC ACTUATOR FOR MODULAR ROBOTIC MECHANISMS

Soft robotics is a widely and rapidly growing field of research today. Soft pneumatic actuators, as a fundamental element in soft robotics, have gained huge popularity and are being employed for the development of soft robots. During the last decade, a variety of hyper-elastic robotic systems have been realized. As the name suggests, such robots are made up of soft materials, and do not have any underlying rigid mechanical structure. These robots are actuated employing various methods like pneumatic, electroactive, jamming etc. Generally, in order to achieve a desired mechanical response to produce required actuation or manipulation, two or more materials having different stiffness are utilized to develop a soft robot. However, this method introduces complications in the fabrication process as well as in further design flexibility and modifications. The current work presents a design scheme of a soft robotic actuator adapting an easier fabrication approach, which is economical and environment friendly as well. The purpose is the realization of a soft pneumatic actuator having functional ability to produce effective actuation, and which is further employable to develop modular and scalable mechanisms. That infers to scrutinize the profile and orientation of the internal actuation cavity and the outer shape of viii the actuator. Utilization of a single material for this actuator has been considered to make this design scheme convenient. A commercial silicone rubber was selected which served for an economical process both in terms of the cost as well as its accommodating fabrication process through molding. In order to obtain the material behavior, \u2018Ansys Workbench 17.1 R \u2019 has been used. Cubic outline for the actuator aided towards the realization of a body shape which can easily be engaged for the development of modular mechanisms employing multiple units. This outer body shape further facilitates to achieve the stability and portability of the actuator. The soft actuator has been named \u2018Soft Cubic Module\u2019 based on its external cubic shape. For the internal actuation cavity design, various shapes, such as spherical, elliptical and cylindrical, were examined considering their different sizes and orientations within the cubic module. These internal cavities were simulated in order to achieve single degree of freedom actuation. That means, only one face of the cube is principally required to produce effective deformation. \u2018Creo Perametric 3.0 M 130\u2019 has been used to design the model and to evaluate the performance of actuation cavities in terms of effective deformation and the resulting von-mises stress. Out of the simulated profiles, cylindrical cavity with desired outcomes has been further considered to design the soft actuator. \u2018Ansys Workbench 17.1 R \u2019 environment was further used to assess the performance of cylindrical actuation cavity. Evaluation in two different simulation environments helped to validate the initially achieved results. The developed soft cubic actuator was then employed to develop different mechanisms in a single unit configuration as well as multi-unit robotic system developments. This design scheme is considered as the first tool to investigate its capacity to perform certain given tasks in various configurations. Alongside its application as a single unit gripper and a two unit bio-mimetic crawling mechanism, this soft actuator has been employed to realize a four degree ix of freedom robotic mechanism. The formation of this primitive soft robotic four axis mechanism is being further considered to develop an equivalent mechanism similar to the well known Stewart platform, with advantages of compactness, simpler kinematics design, easier control, and lesser cost. Overall, the accomplished results indicate that the design scheme of Soft Cubic Module is helpful in realizing a simple and cost-effective soft pneumatic actuator which is modular and scalable. Another favourable point of this scheme is the use of a single material with convenient fabrication and handling

Recent Advances and Current Developments in Tissue Scaffolding

A bio-scaffold can be broadly termed as a structure used to substitute an organ either permanently or temporarily to restore functionality. The material that can be used varies with the application intended. Tissue engineering is one such application demanding certain requirements to be met before it is applied. One of the applications in tissue engineering is the tissue scaffold, which provides either a permanent or temporary support to the damaged tissues/organ until the functionalities are restored. A biomaterial can exhibit specific interactions with cells that will lead to stereotyped responses. The use of a particular material and morphology depends on various factors such as osteoinduction, osteoconduction, angiogenesis, growth rates of cells and degradation rate of the material in case of temporary scaffolds, etc. The current work reviews the state of art in tissue scaffolds and focuses on permanent scaffold materials and applications with a brief overview of temporary scaffold materials and their disadvantages

Transoral robotic surgery for tongue base tumors

Η χειρουργική της Κεφαλής και Τραχήλου τα τελευταία 20 χρόνια έχει γνωρίσει ιδιαίτερη ανάπτυξη με κυριότερο σημείο-χαρακτηριστικό την όσο το δυνατόν περισσότερη διατήρηση ανατομικών δομών στα πλαίσια των αρχών που διέπουν την ελάχιστα επεμβατική χειρουργική. Μεταξύ αυτών των τεχνικών είναι ο τραχηλικός λεμφαδενικός καθαρισμός μερικές υπερκρικοειδικές λαρυγγεκτομές, δια του στόματος χειρουργική με laser και πρόσφατα η ρομποτικά υποβοηθούμενη δια του στόματος εκτομή νεοπλασιών βάσης γλώσσας. Είναι μια νέα τεχνική η οποία συνδυάζει αρκετά θετικά στοιχεία όπως την τρισδιάστατη αίσθηση της όρασης, την χρήση 2 ή και 3 ρομποτικών βραχιόνων, τα οποία είναι σε θέση να εξαιρέσουν σε υγιή όρια αλλοιώσεων χάρη στην δυνατότητα των 6 βαθμών ελευθερίας κίνησης που διαθέτουν. Ο μειωμένος αριθμός τραχειοτομιών, η μικρή πλέον ενδονοσοκομειακή νοσηλεία, η μειωμένη διεγχειριτική απώλεια αίματος και ο γρήγορος χρόνος αποκατάστασης και διατροφής την καθιστούν πλέον μια πολλή ιδιαίτερη και πολλά υποσχόμενη τεχνική.. Όλο και περισσότερες καινοτομίες και βελτιώσεις μας επιφυλάσσει αυτή η τεχνική και είναι πλέον εφικτή η δημιουργία όλο και νεότερης γενιάς ρομποτικών συστημάτων προσαρμοζόμενα περισσότερο στις ανάγκες της χειρουργικής Κεφαλής & Τραχήλου.Open surgical approaches to the oropharynx can be associated with morbidities such as cosmetic deformity, malocclusion and dysphagia. Therefore, a trend toward using radiotherapy and concurrent chemotherapy as a primary modality in case of oropharyngeal cancer has been observed in the last few decades. However, evidence of a clear advantage of concurrent chemoradiotherapy over using combined treatment (primary surgery followed by radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy) is still lacking, while toxicity of intensive chemoradiotherapy causing severe dysphagia with dependence on a gastrostomy tube has been well documented. In recent years, transoral robotic surgery (TORS) has been used for the removal of pharyngeal and laryngeal cancers with the objective to improve functional and aesthetic out- comes without worsening survival. Based on reports in transoral laser surgery (TOLS), the benefits of the transoral approach to the pharyngolaryngeal lumen are well known. TORS allows a clearer and wider view of the surgical field and better 3D visualization of structures than TOLS, enabling access to the tumor via a smaller approach than the external one. Another advantage of TORS is the use of miniaturized tools. This allows mimicking standard surgical instruments and arm movements, with tremor filtration. In addition, it permits a frontal view and reaches “blind corners” of the pharyngolaryngeal complex, not-perpendicularly positioned to the visual line due to the possibility to use a 30° telescope. One of the objectives of this study is to evaluate whether acceptable overall functional outcomes in case of tongue base tumors are obtained using TORS. Most reports describe the use of TORS in radical tonsillectomy and partial laryngectomy. Few authors have focused on tongue base neoplasms, most likely due to the difficulty to recruit eligible case