Microbiota analysis is a fundamental element for a better understanding of microbiota role, its relationship with the human body and its impact on different pathologies. There is today no non-invasive tool for easy collection of the microbiota in the small intestine. In this paper, we describe the development of such a device that opens the way to new diagnostic techniques. The device is based on a capsule designed as a passive system to maximize the safety during its use. Originality of the design relies in the use of a bistable mechanism obtained using additive manufacturing in order to provide a compact design with integration of opening, sampling and closing functions within the capsule. Design, implementation and initial lab evaluation of sampling are presented.

The use of mechanical bistable structures in the design of microrobots and mesorobots has many advantages especially for flexible robotic structures. However, depending on the used fabrication technology, the adequacy of theoretical and experimental mechanical behaviors can vary widely. In this paper, we present the manufacturing results of bistable structures made with two extensively used contemporary technologies: MEMS and FDM additive manufacturing. Key issues of these fabrication technologies are discussed in the context of microrobotics and mesorobotics applications. Keywords mechanical bistable structures • curved beams • MEMS • FDM additive manufacturing • microrobotics • mesorobotics This research is partially supported by the Investissements d'Avenir (Labex CAMI ANR-11-LABX-0004). The authors would like to thank Gilles Bourbon and Patrice Le Moal from FEMTO-ST Institute for their contributions to the simulation, the development of MEMS process and for microfabrication.

Purpose Surgical treatments for low-rectal cancer require careful considerations due to the low location of cancer in rectums.Successful surgical outcomes highly depend on surgeons' ability to determine clear distal margins of rectal tumors. This is a challenge for surgeons in robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery, since tumors are often concealed in rectums and robotic surgical instruments do not provide tactile feedback for tissue diagnosis in real time. This paper presents the development and evaluation of an intraoperative ultrasoundbased augmented reality framework for surgical guidance in robot-assisted rectal surgery. Methods Framework implementation consists in calibrating the transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) and the endoscopic camera (hand-eye calibration), generating a virtual model and registering it to the endoscopic image via optical tracking, and displaying the augmented view on a head-mounted display. An experimental validation setup is designed to evaluate the framework. Results The evaluation process yields a mean error of 0.9 mm for the TRUS calibration, a maximum error of 0.51 mm for the hand-eye calibration of endoscopic cameras, and a maximum RMS error of 0.8 mm for the whole framework. In the experiment with a rectum phantom, our framework guides the surgeon to ac

Bistable mechanisms can be used for performing specific functions such as locking or negative stiffness generation. These compliant structures are then of interest at different scales, with different corresponding manufacturing technologies. One of them is additive manufacturing, which is interesting for the integration of such structures. Although this technology has undergone a revolution with the development of high-accuracy machines, the manufacturing of small-sized compliant structures is still quite a challenge especially for bistable mechanisms, which was not yet finely characterized. This is the focus of this paper, with presentation of an experimental and analytical confrontation in the case of Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM).