Soft robotic technologies for next-generation bio-integrative medical devices

Healthcare is in need of more advanced therapies that integrate closely with the biological and physical systems of the human body. These include new treatments for age-related physical degradation, for example in the circulatory system, and post-operative functional restoration following surgery, including cancer removal, and trauma including traffic accidents. Unfortunately current medical treatments and devices rely heavily on conventional 'hard' technologies that limit effectiveness and raise safety and cost issues. In contrast soft robotic technologies have the potential for close bio-integration by exploiting the 'soft-soft' interfacing that is so prevalent in Nature. Soft robotics offers safer, scalable, lower cost and more effective personalised medical treatments. This fellowship will develop innovative modular soft robotic technologies for rapid exploitation in the next generation bio-integrative medical and therapeutic systems.

To enable future soft robotic healthcare technologies requires a concerted effort across the development pipeline from fundamental biocompatible smart materials and their corresponding nonlinear viscoelastic mathematical modelling to efficient compliant mechanisms and complete compliant machines. Fundamental studies into materials and mechanisms will be undertaken and will feed into the identification and characterisation of a set of modular soft robotic components that act as 'building blocks' for complete implantable medical devices.

The technologies identified and developed will contribute directly to a step change in the sophistication of bio-integrative medical treatments. These will strengthen the UKs capability in the field of healthcare technologies and will make a significant contribution to improvements in standards of care and quality of life for a wide range of patients.

The soft robotic technologies proposed here will provide the means for the design, development and fabrication of bio-integrative active medical devices. No alternative can meet the growing clinical need for active, compliant and safe implantable treatments. The technologies that will be developed on this fellowship will remove the constraints of current systems that are rigid, non bio-integrative and unsuitable for personalisation. This fellowship will generate high impact in the clinical domain through close interaction with clinical partners working in the fields of cardio-vascular and laryngeal diseases. Core partners include UCL, Royal National Ear Nose and Throat Hospital, and Bristol Royal Infirmary, all of whom have indicated their level of engagement in this research not only through tangible contributions, but also in their prior engagements on feasibility studies. Indeed the high clinical impact of soft robotics is shown by the desire of these partners to also leverage this research beyond implantable medical devices to day-to-day care materials (e.g. smart bandages) and surgical tools (e.g. compliant 6-DOF surgical retractor).

This project will directly engage with industry through visits and invited talks, building on my industrial contacts and industry engagement activities through the RoboSoft coordination action, for which I manage engagement and dissemination across Europe. These include device manufacturers such as Terumo Research Labs and companies that have identified robotic healthcare as a key area for expansion, including BAe Systems and Renishaw. In addition the planned workshop dedicated to soft robotic healthcare technologies will foster further interaction between researchers, clinicians and the medical industry.

Wider impact will be achieved through public engagement activities which will be coordinated with those underway as part of the RoboSoft coordination action. These include the fabrication of demonstration soft robotic devices that can be handled by the public and can be directly compared to their rigid (and less effective) counterparts. Planned engagement activities include the Cheltenham Science Festivals and events at the @Bristol science centre. I am committed to public engagement and communication and this will form an important component of the wider impact activities of this proposal.

Impact in the international context will be achieved not only through traditional academic routes including journals and conferences but also through tightly integrated engagement with project partner Riken and close collaborators in Japan, New Zealand and Europe. These will include seven months of research visits spread across the five years of the fellowship, and engagement and interaction visits to Harvard, UCLA, EPFL, ETHZ and IIT. These are expected to lead to substantial future research collaborations and will accelerate the development and exploitation of these soft robotic technologies.