A sensorimotor PROsthesis for the upper LIMB (PROLIMB)
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Mechanical Engineering
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Publications
Almanzor E
(2023)
Static Shape Control of Soft Continuum Robots Using Deep Visual Inverse Kinematic Models
in IEEE Transactions on Robotics
Gomez-De-Gabriel J
(2021)
Adaptive Underactuated Finger With Active Rolling Surface
in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
Ramos O
(2022)
Assessment of Soft Actuators for Hand Exoskeletons: Pleated Textile Actuators and Fiber-Reinforced Silicone Actuators.
in Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology
Shariati A
(2023)
Analysis of a Soft Bio-Inspired Active Actuation Model for the Design of Artificial Vocal Folds
in Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics
Shariati A
(2022)
Towards partial-hand prosthetic devices with integrated haptic feedback
Shi G
(2022)
Modelling the compression of a soft ellipsoid fingertip.
in Soft matter
| Description | Therapeutic Acceleration Support (TAS) Fund |
| Amount | £78,600 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2022 |
| End | 08/2023 |
| Description | National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery |
| Organisation | National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Hospitals |
| PI Contribution | Within the INSTINCT project, a wearable haptic feedback interface was developed. This can be used for one point and two point discrimination when understanding the sensitivity of the human fingertip. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Professor Martin Koltzenburg is interested to use our interface to examine patients' fingertip sensitivity in a consistent way. |
| Impact | N/A |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | #MadeAtUCL podcast on touch |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | n/a |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://soundcloud.com/uclsound/madeatucl-podcasts-touch |
| Description | Current Preclinical Concepts and the Future of Robotics Research, MRC Centre for Transplantation, King's College London, UK |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Talk as part of the curriculum for medical students at KCL. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Exhibition at the Coventry Robot Day 2022 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | At the Coventry Robot Day, the team will present their work on Robotics and AI to the General Public. Part of the exhibition will be a number of soft robotic devices and haptic interfaces, e.g., a prosthetic fingertip with mechano-tactile feedback, a haptic driving seat and a wearable haptic device for minimally invasive surgery. As part of the exhibition, there will be also a talk that will further introduce the work from the UCL Soft Haptics and Robotics team on Robotics and AI. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.robotday.co.uk/ |
| Description | ICRA 2022 Workshop Frontiers of Endoluminal Intervention: Clinical opportunities and technical challenges, Philadelphia, USA |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This workshop aims to address clinical opportunities, technical requirements and regulatory challenges for translating continuum robotics to practical clinical use. It is designed as an interactive workshop between researchers, engineers and clinicians to brainstorm about the different areas and identify barriers to using continuum robots in a clinical setting. The result of the workshop will be to create a list of technical and clinical challenges that need to be resolved while also serving to build bridges between the clinical, engineering and regulatory communities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://wordpress.com/page/helge-wurdemann.com/1438 |
| Description | ICRA 2022 Workshop on Leveraging Advancements in Smart Materials Science: Soft Robots Gaining New Abilities through Smart and Functional Materials, Philadelphia, USA |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The field of soft robotics has made inroads into a number of applications, filling the niches where traditional robots are unable to compete. This development is driven by new smart and functionalized materials that enable innovative soft robotic abilities. This ICRA 2022 workshop will bring together experts from the fields of materials science and soft robotics, bridging the gap between the disciplines to develop the next generation of cutting-edge soft robotic systems. The workshop will explore current challenges to create new soft robotic systems using smart and functionalized materials in the future. Three sessions, each introduced by a leading researcher from materials science and followed by keynote presentations of soft robotics researchers, will focus on smart materials for actuators, sensors and applications. A panel discussion, moderated and streamed by the Soft Robotics Debate, will discuss obstacles, challenges and the future direction. As part of the workshop, real demonstrators will be presented to illustrate the opportunities arising from smart materials in a soft robotic context. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.spp2100.de/icra2022 |
| Description | ICRA 2022 Workshop on Soft Robots for Humanity, Kyoto, Japan |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Over the past decade, soft material robotics has established itself as an important research topic, as evidenced by the surge of publications in journals, such as "Soft Robotics" and dedicated sessions at major robotics conferences, i.e., ICRA/IROS. Applications of soft robotics have included areas in industry and agriculture and have expanded into healthcare, education, and exploration. One key advantage of soft robots over traditional rigid robots is the inherently safe characteristics, resulting from the inherently soft materials they are made of, in particular when collaborating closely with humans. Applications of soft robots are thus often in areas beyond classical automation, cycle time reduction and profit maximization through their rigid counterparts. This IROS 2022 workshop will identify current applications of soft robotic systems and highlight opportunities of soft robots shaping a symbiotic society and a better world of tomorrow. Exciting presentations on the basics of ethics in robotics, the empowerment of young researchers from underrepresented backgrounds in science and the importance of technical education for children will form the basis for the following technical presentations by renowned researchers and their soft robots for humanity with a panel discussion moderated and streamed by the Soft Robotics Debate. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.spp2100.de/iros2022 |
| Description | ICRA 2023 Tutorial:Towards an accessible soft robotics toolbox and validation test rig |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | There is an increasing number of analytical and numerical modelling approaches and frameworks for soft robotic manipulators emerging. Some of these modelling techniques offer design optimisation with regards to application-driven requirements, a thorough kinematic, stiffness, force analysis of the system, or an evaluation of a control strategy, to name a few. These mathematical tools in combination with experimental evaluation test rigs can be extremely powerful tools to gain detailed understanding of a soft robotic system. This full-day event will provide a platform to researchers, who have created soft robotic toolboxes and experimental test rigs, (i) to give hands-on tutorial sessions, (ii) to explore requirements for a joint, soft robotic toolbox together with the soft robotic community, (iii) explore synergies of current toolboxes, and (iv) through a plenary discussion, identify what hurdles remain to advance this project of developing a joint toolbox resulting in a roadmap. The tutorial aims to bring together experts active in the field of creating modelling approaches for soft robotic systems, early-career researchers who have developed a keen interest in soft robotics and software industry. Early-career researchers will be given the opportunity to present a poster. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | http://www.softrobotictoolbox.org/ |
| Description | Invited talk: Body-powered prostheses with haptic feedback |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Relevant researchers at UCL (within the UCL Institute of Healthcare Engineering) joined this event to find synergies and collaboration possibilities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Invited talk: Inherently soft - inherently safe: Robots of the future, UCL - Japan Youth Challenge |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | This talk was part of a UCL - Japan Youth Challenge to promote a career in a STEM subject. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Invited talk: Innovative robotic end-effectors from bin picking to physical Human-Robot Interaction, IROS2021 Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | At this IROS2021 Workshop on Dexterous manipulation in the real-contact context new progress and challenges, new concepts of haptic feedback and grippers for pick and place operations were discussed. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://ni.www.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de/IROS2021WS |
| Description | Invited talk: Soft material medical devices, UCL-IHE & IISC joint webinar Materials and Medicines |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | UCL and IISC explored synergies with this joint webinar on Materials and Medicines. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Invited talk: Soft, stiffness-controllable robotic systems - future applications and impact, The BioRobotics Institute, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This talk was held at The BioRobotics Institute, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies for postgraduate taught and research students. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Keynote talk: Soft Robotics for Healthcare, International Workshop on Bionic Engineering (IWBE), Manchester, UK |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This talk was given at the International Workshop on Bionic Engineering and introduced applications of soft robotis in healthcare and highly automated vehicles. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://isbe-online.org/?ui=english&mod=info&act=view&id=4238 |
| Description | Keynote talk: Soft materials for robotic application in healthcare, industry & autonomous vehicles, International Congress of Mechanical Engineering |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | At the 2021 International Congress of Mechanical Engineering, I introduced soft materials for robotic application in healthcare, industry & autonomous vehicles. This conference is the leading MechEng conference in South America. In 2021, it is the 50th anniversary. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://eventos.abcm.org.br/cobem2021/content/uploads/2021/11/FINAL-PROGRAM-COBEM-2021.pdf |
| Description | Medical robotics at UCL, Spring School on Medical Robotics, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Spring School on Medical Robotics, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Miniaturised soft robotic manipulators for MIS, Hamlyn WS on Autonomy and shared autonomy in endoluminal approaches for soft surgical robots, London, UK |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Talk at the Hamlyn Symposium of Medical Robots. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Soft haptics, Bloomsbury Festival, London, UK |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Two projects (haptic driving seat and haptic interface for robotic surgery) was exhibited at the 2022 Bloomsbury Festival. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://bloomsburyfestival.org.uk/ |
| Description | Soft, smart, stiffness-controllable: Interventional robots and sensors, IROS 2022 WS on Soft Robots for Humanity, Kyoto, Japan |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Workshop presentation and discussion at IROS 2022. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Soft, stiffness-controllable robotic systems - future applications and impact, Leeds Robotics, Leeds University, UK |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invited talk at Leeds University to initialise collaboration on soft robotics related topics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Spring into STEM |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | This talk was part of the UCL Engineering series of virtual lectures exploring hot topics in STEM and key research across departments. This lecture was free to attend and open to anyone wanting to discover more about Robotics and AI. Spring into STEM lectures are designed to prompt us all to think creatively about how we can apply innovative STEM solutions and novel approaches to the complexities of the world around us. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://youtu.be/bC_O4tuS_8o |