Ovipositor-inspired steerable needle: design and preliminary experimental evaluation

Scali, Marta; Pusch, Tim Philipp; Breedveld, Paul; Dodou, Dimitra

doi:10.1088/1748-3190/aa92b9

Cited by 35 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…Slender, multi-element probes inspired by parasitic wasp ovipositors have been developed and can be steered without placing actuators inside the probe and without axial rotation (Ko et al, 2010;Scali et al, 2017). The individual elements of such probes slide along each other and therefore form an adjustable bevel tip (Ko et al, 2011;Scali et al, 2017). The probe is steered by taking advantage of the substrate reaction forces acting on the adjustable bevel.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stiffness gradients facilitate ovipositor bending and spatial probing control in a parasitic wasp

Cerkvenik

Leeuwen

Kovalev

et al. 2019

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Many parasitic wasps use slender and steerable ovipositors to lay eggs in hosts hidden in substrates, but it is currently unknown how steering is achieved. The ovipositors generally consist of three longitudinally connected elements, one dorsal and two ventral valves that can slide along each other. For the parasitic wasp Diachasmimorpha longicaudata, it has been shown that protraction of the ventral valves causes incurving of the ventral valves towards the dorsal one, which results in a change in probing direction. We hypothesize that this shape change is due to differences in bending stiffness along the ovipositor. Alignment of the stiff tip of the dorsal valve with a more flexible ventral S-shaped region situated just behind the tip straightens this S-bend and results in upwards rotation of the ventral tip. We show that the S-shaped region of the ventral valves has a low bending stiffness because it contains soft materials such as resilin. In contrast, the large cross-sectional area of the dorsal valve tip area probably results in a high bending stiffness. Elsewhere, the dorsal valve is less stiff than the ventral valves. Our results support the hypothesis that the interaction between the stiff dorsal valve portion and the more flexible S-shaped region co-determines the configurational tip changes required for steering the ovipositor in any desired direction along curved paths in the substrate. This provides novel insights in the understanding of steering mechanisms of the hymenopteran ovipositor, and for application in man-made probes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stiffness gradients facilitate ovipositor bending and spatial probing control in a parasitic wasp

Cerkvenik

Leeuwen

Kovalev

et al. 2019

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Our goal was to prevent the bifurcation of the wires, a phenomenon observed in a previous version of the prototype, 15 and consequently to increase the steering curvature. The conical ring was used in two different configurations: (1) as a 'converging ring', where the wires tend to move toward the center, (2) as a 'diverging ring', where the wires tend to move away from the center.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a previous version of the prototype 15 we were creating first an asymmetry between two wires and then reinforcing it by advancing two other wires with the same offset. In the current prototype the offset is created between four wires (i.e., two pairs) and the other two wires (i.e., one pair).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Design and evaluation of a wasp-inspired steerable needle

et al. 2017

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Flexible steerable needles can follow complex curved paths inside the human body. In a previous work, we developed a multiple-part steerable needle prototype with a diameter of 1.2 mm, inspired by the ovipositor of parasitoid wasps. The needle consisted of seven nickel-titanium longitudinally aligned wires held together at the tip by a cylindrical ring with seven holes. The steerability of the needle was evaluated in a gelatin phantom and was found to be lower than that of other steerable needles in the literature. One possible cause of this limited steerability is that during motion the wires tend to separate from each other (i.e., bifurcate). Our aim here was to reduce bifurcation in order to increase the steering curvature of the needle, while keeping the diameter around 1.5 mm, and thus compatible with needles used in medical practice. To achieve that, we changed the shape of the ring from cylindrical to conical. We evaluated the steering performance in gelatin, using the conical ring in two configurations: (1) with the apex of the cone towards the needle tip, so that the wires converge, thus expected to reduce bifurcation, (2) with the apex of the cone placed towards the needle base, so that the wires diverge, thus expected to magnify bifurcation. Results showed that the diverging ring generated larger steering curvatures. We can conclude that reducing the bifurcation of the wires is not enough for increasing the steering curvature and that inducing this same phenomenon instead could actually lead to higher curvatures.

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“…In experiments of insertion into the tissue-mimicking phantom 1 and the ex-vivo tissue 28 , the notched needle tips exhibited lower insertion forces when compared to the needle without notches. The insertion of a needle device with multiple incrementally moving needle components without the harpoon-shape notches was studied and showed the independent benefit of incremental motion to reduce the tissue phantom displacement during insertion 29 and allow deep insertion without buckling 30,31 . For the notched needle with incremental insertion motion, the puncture 23 and insertion forces 32 into the tissue phantom were reduced by approximately 40% and 70%, respectively, in comparison to that of a notched needle without incremental motion.…”

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confidence: 99%

Mosquito proboscis-inspired needle insertion to reduce tissue deformation and organ displacement

Putra

Chen

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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This study investigates mosquito proboscis-inspired (MPI) insertion applied to the clinically used biopsy needle to reduce tissue deformation and organ displacement. Advanced medical imagining has enabled early-stage identification of cancerous lesions that require needle biopsy for minimally invasive tissue sampling and pathological analysis. Accurate cancer diagnosis depends on the accuracy of needle deployment to the targeted cancerous lesion site. However, currently available needle delivery systems deform and move soft tissue and organs, leading to a non-diagnostic biopsy or undersampling of the target. Two features inspired by the mosquito proboscis were adopted for MPI insertion in prostate biopsy: (1) the harpoon-shape notches at the needle tip and (2) reciprocating needle-cannula motions for incremental insertion. the local tissue deformation and global prostate displacement during the MPI vs. traditional direct insertions were quantified by optically tracking the displacement of particle-embedded tissue-mimicking phantoms. Results show that the MPI needle insertion reduced both local tissue deformation and global prostate displacement because of the opposite needle-cannula motions and notches which stabilized and reduced the tissue deformation during insertion. Findings provide proof of concept for MPI insertion in the clinical biopsy procedures as well as insights of needle-tissue interaction for future biopsy technology development. Mosquito proboscis is an ideal needle device which minimizes the deformation and displacement of surrounding tissue during insertion for accurate guidance to targeted vessels. The proboscis has a hollow labrum (about 25 μm wide) and two maxillae (about 15 μm wide) with harpoon-shape notches on the side 1 as shown in Fig. 1a. During insertion, the proboscis advances incrementally with vibratory relative displacements of the labrum and maxillae for reciprocating tissue penetration 2,3. A study proposed the mechanism of proboscis insertion 1 as illustrated in Fig. 1b. In Step 1, the left maxilla moves forward into the tissue while the labrum retracts a shorter distance in the opposite direction. In Step 2, the labrum moves forward while the maxillae retract utilizing their notches to anchor the surrounding tissue. The forward motion of the right maxilla and backward motion of the labrum in Step 3 mirror the motions in Step 1. In Step 4, movements of both maxillae and the labrum in Step 2 are repeated. After moving the left maxilla forward and the labrum backward in Step 5, the relative positions of the maxillae and labrum are the same as in Step 1. At this state, the proboscis has moved forward by a distance marked by the wide arrow in Fig. 1b. By repeating the above steps, the proboscis incrementally advances with vibratory motions. The vibratory reciprocating motions of mosquito proboscis have been found to reduce insertion force and resultant tissue deformation 3,4. The harpoon-shape notches of the maxillae may further provide critical support and anchoring to reduce tissu...

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Ovipositor-inspired steerable needle: design and preliminary experimental evaluation

Cited by 35 publications

References 74 publications

Stiffness gradients facilitate ovipositor bending and spatial probing control in a parasitic wasp

Stiffness gradients facilitate ovipositor bending and spatial probing control in a parasitic wasp

Design and evaluation of a wasp-inspired steerable needle

Mosquito proboscis-inspired needle insertion to reduce tissue deformation and organ displacement

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