Project description DEENESFRITPL Medical robots to give surgeons a helping hand Surgeons often must perform delicate and extremely difficult interventions and face inoperable diseases. Robotic technology may allow them to confront these challenges. The EU-funded NoLiMiTs project will qualify central principles at the intersection between robotics, magnetics, manufacturing and medicine to allow smart tentacle-like robots to improve surgeons’ capabilities. Magnetic tentacle robots are proposed for the first time because they are thin, scalable, smooth and conform to curvilinear trajectories. Thus, surgeons will be able to design personalised tentacles and create them on demand. The project consists of four research targets: robotic architecture and models; intelligence and control; rapid design, simulation and synthesis; and multi-level experimental evaluation. The method will reduce treatment costs and improve public health services. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective The aim of this project is to characterize fundamental principles at the intersection of robotics, magnetics, manufacturing and medicine, which will enable intelligent tentacle-like robots to augment the capabilities of surgeons in reaching deep into the human anatomy through complex winding pathways and treat inoperable diseases.Magnetic tentacle robots, proposed here for the first time, have the potential to be thin, extremely soft and scalable, and to conform to curvilinear trajectories by leveraging magnetic control over their entire length. The surgeon needing to access difficult to reach targets such as peripheral nodules in the lungs, small diseased blood vessels and regions deep inside the brain, will be able to design personalised tentacles and fabricate them on demand.My world-leading research team in surgical robotics–to be further consolidated by this grant–will define and explore new robotic architectures, as well as the design and fabrication processes integral to this novel concept. Proprioceptive sensing, combined with mathematical models, will enable intelligent robotic control. Robotic assistance will be context dependent, ranging from joystick-based operation to autonomous control along pre-planned trajectories. An integrated design environment will help systematise and streamline implementation.The research programme consists of four work packages: 1) Robotic architectures and models; 2) Intelligence and control; 3) Rapid design, simulation and synthesis; and 4) Multi-scale experimental evaluation, embracing different scenarios where control over the entire body of the robot is crucial: lung biopsy, cardiovascular interventions and neurosurgery.This interdisciplinary research will strengthen Europe’s position in medical robotics and improve public health by reducing patient recovery times, complication rates, and treatment costs, and ultimately saving the lives of patients suffering diseases that are inoperable—and often terminal—today. Fields of science medical and health scienceshealth sciencespublic healthmedical and health sciencesbasic medicineanatomy and morphologyengineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringroboticsnatural sciencesmathematicsapplied mathematicsmathematical model Keywords surgical robotics robotic surgery medical robotics magnetic manipulation continuum robots cyber physical systems Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2018-COG - ERC Consolidator Grant Call for proposal ERC-2018-COG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant Host institution UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS Net EU contribution € 2 698 136,00 Address WOODHOUSE LANE LS2 9JT Leeds United Kingdom See on map Region Yorkshire and the Humber West Yorkshire Leeds Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 2 698 136,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS United Kingdom Net EU contribution € 2 698 136,00 Address WOODHOUSE LANE LS2 9JT Leeds See on map Region Yorkshire and the Humber West Yorkshire Leeds Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 2 698 136,00
