The design of a pneumatically actuated silicone module, resembling soft tissue, with three pneumatic chambers is considered and optimized in this study with the aim of using it in a soft robot arm for robotic surgery applications. Three types of silicone materials, Ecoflex 0030 and 0050 and Dragonskin 0030, have been investigated, and a constitutive model has been derived for each of them. Design optimization of the silicone module was based on finite element analysis (FEA) that was validated against experimental data of one-degree bending under one-channel actuation. This was followed by FEA parametric studies for module design optimization to minimize the ballooning effect in one-degree bending as well as reduce the actuation pressure. Modules made from Ecoflex 0030 and Ecoflex 0050 exhibited the same bending shape in FEA, but about three times higher actuation pressure was required for the harder Ecoflex 0050. Design parameters under investigation in the parametric FEA studies included the shape of the pneumatic channel cross section, the ratio of channel length to module length, the distance of channel from the module wall, and the ratio of channel to module cross-sectional area. After FEA design optimization yielded least ballooning for pneumatic chambers of semicircular cross section, an internal dragonskin structure was added internally below the module surface to enable and guide the bending under one-channel pneumatic actuation and further contain the ballooning effect: the benefits of this design were successfully verified under both FEA and experimental analysis

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Robot-assisted surgery is gaining popularity worldwide and there is increasing scientific interest to explore the potential of soft continuum robots for minimally invasive surgery. However, the remote control of soft robots is much more challenging compared with their rigid counterparts. Accurate modeling of manipulator dynamics is vital to remotely control the diverse movement configurations and is particularly important for safe interaction with the operating environment. However, current dynamic models applied to soft manipulator systems are simplistic and empirical, which restricts the full potential of the new soft robots technology. Therefore, this article provides a new insight into the development of a nonlinear dynamic model for a soft continuum manipulator based on a material model. The continuum manipulator used in this study is treated as a composite material and a modified nonlinear Kelvin-Voigt material model is utilized to embody the visco-hyperelastic dynamics of soft silicone. The Lagrangian approach is applied to derive the equation of motion of the manipulator. Simulation and experimental results prove that this material modeling approach sufficiently captures the nonlinear time-and rate-dependent behavior of a soft manipulator. Material model-based closed-loop trajectory control was implemented to further validate the feasibility of the derived model and increase the performance of the overall system.

Crosslinked, multi-layer electrospun gelatin fiber scaffolds with generally ±45 degree fiber orientation have been used to grow human umbilical vein smooth muscle cells (HUVSMCs) to create a vascular tunica media graft. Scaffolds of different fiber diameter (2-5 μm in wet state), pore size, and porosity (16-21% in wet state) were assessed in terms of cell adherence and viability, cell proliferation, and migration in both in-plane and transverse directions through the scaffold as a function of time under static cell culture conditions. HUVSMC cell viability reached between 80 and 92% for all scaffolds after 9 days in culture. HUVSMCs adhered, elongated, and orientated in the fiber direction, and migrated through a scaffold thickness of 200-235 μm 9 days post-seeding under static conditions. The best scaffold was then used to assess the tissue engineering of HUVSMCs under dynamic conditions for a rotating, cell seeded, tubular scaffold in the bioreactor containing the culture medium. Dynamic conditions almost doubled the rate of cell proliferation through the scaffold, forming full tissue throughout a scaffold of 250-300 μm thickness 6 days post-seeding.

The paper presents a transient, continuum, two-phase model of the tissue engineering in fibrous scaffolds, including transport equations for the flowing culture medium, nutrient and cell concentration with transverse and in-plane diffusion and cell migration, a novel feature of local in-plane transport across a phenomenological pore and innovative layer-by-layer cell filling approach. The model is successfully validated for the smooth muscle cell tissue engineering of a vascular graft using crosslinked, electrospun gelatin fiber scaffolds for both static and dynamic cell culture, the latter in a dynamic bioreactor with a rotating shaft on which the tubular scaffold is attached. Parametric studies evaluate the impact of the scaffold microstructure, cell dynamics, oxygen transport, and static or dynamic conditions on the rate and extent of cell proliferation and depth of oxygen accessibility. An optimized scaffold of 75% dry porosity is proposed that can be tissue engineered into a viable and still fully oxygenated graft of the tunica media of the coronary artery within 2 days in the dynamic bioreactor. Such scaffold also matches the mechanical properties of the tunica media of the human coronary artery and the suture retention strength of a saphenous vein, often used as a coronary artery graft.