Biomechatronic Design Research Articles

Developing organ-on-a-chip concepts using bio-mechatronic design methodology

Mechatronic design is an engineering methodology for conceiving, configuring and optimising the design of a technical device or product to the needs and requirements of the final user. In this article, we show how the basic principles of this methodology can be exploited for in vitro cell cultures—often referred to as organ-on-a-chip devices. Due to the key role of the biological cells, we have introduced the term bio-mechatronic design, to highlight the complexity of designing a system that should integrate biology, mechanics and electronics in the same device structure. The strength of the mechatronic design is to match the needs of the potential users to a systematic evaluation of overall functional design alternative. It may be especially attractive for organs-on-chips where biological constituents such as cells and tissues in 3D settings and in a fluidic environment should be compared, screened and selected. Through this approach, design solutions ranked to customer needs are generated according to specified criteria, thereby defining the key constraints of the fabrication. As an example, the bio-mechatronic methodology is applied to a liver-on-a-chip based on information extrapolated from previous theoretical and experimental knowledge. It is concluded that the methodology can generate new fabrication solutions for devices, as well as efficient guidelines for refining the design and fabrication of many of today’s organ-on-a-chip devices.

Biomechatronic design and control of an anthropomorphic artificial hand for prosthetic applications

SUMMARYIn this paper, we propose a biomechatronic design of an anthropomorphic artificial hand that is able to mimic the natural motion of human fingers. The prosthetic hand has 5 fingers and 15 joints, which are actuated by 5 embedded motors. Each finger has three phalanges that can fulfill flexion-extension movements independently. The thumb is specially designed to move along a cone surface when grasping, and the other four fingers are well developed based on the four-bar link mechanism to imitate the motion of the human finger. To accomplish the sophisticated control schemes, the fingers are equipped with numerous torque and position sensors. The mechanical parts, sensors, and motion control systems are integrated in the hand structure, and the motion of the hand can be controlled through electromyography (EMG) signals in real-time. A new concept for the sensory feedback system based on an electrical stimulator is also taken into account. The low-cost prosthetic hand is small in size (85% of the human hand), of low weight (420 g) and has a large grasp power (10 N on the fingertips), hence it has a dexterous and humanlike appearance. The performance of the prosthetic hand is validated in a clinical evaluation on transradial amputees.

Book review: Biomechatronic Design in Biotechnology – A methodology for Development of Biotechnological Products

Biomechatronic Design in Biotechnology, by Carl-Fredrik Mandenius and Mats Björkman, aims to link aspects of biotechnology with mechanical and electrical engineering. Read this book review by Felix Lenk to find out more about this book.

Biomechatronics for designing bioprocess monitoring and control systems: Application to stem cell production

Stem cell production systems need elaborate monitoring and control for meeting requirements on the final cell product. In this article, the use of biomechatronic design methodology for supporting these efforts is described. Biomechatronic design, which is based on a fundamental systematical design approach originating from mechanical engineering, is here applied for investigating how monitoring and control systems can be configured in stem cell manufacturing processes. Results are provided that demonstrate how the biomechatronic design tools are used to compare different process analytical instrumentation resulting in a design layout for the monitoring system for derivation of hepatocytes from human embryonic stem cells. The results can be extrapolated to other stem cell production processes using the same methodology.

Scale‐up of cell culture bioreactors using biomechatronic design

Scale-up of cell culture bioreactors is a challenging engineering work that requires wide competence in cell biology, mechanical engineering and bioprocess design. In this article, a new approach for cell culture bioreactor scale-up is suggested that is based on biomechatronic design methodology. The approach differs from traditional biochemical engineering methodology by applying a sequential design procedure where the needs of the users and alternative design solutions are systematically analysed. The procedure is based on the biological and technical functions of the scaled-up bioreactor that are derived in functional maps, concept generation charts and scoring and interaction matrices. Basic reactor engineering properties, such as mass and heat transfer and kinetics are integrated in the procedure. The methodology results in the generation of alternative design solutions that are thoroughly ranked with help of the user needs. Examples from monoclonal antibodies and recombinant protein production illuminate the steps of the procedure. The methodology provides engineering teams with additional tools that can significantly facilitate the design of new production methods for cell culture processes.

Kinematic fundamentals of a biomechatronic laparoscopy system

Optical assistance in laparoscopic surgery is essential for an optimal procedure. Unlike conventional surgery, it requires new systems to reduce spatial location time, navigation and cleanliness without compromising surgical quality. This article shows the kinematic analysis of a new bio-mechatronic design to assist laparoscopic visual perspective in real time, either during training or in surgery. The bio-mechatronic system is analyzed in order to get the kinematic model of the system. The set of kinematic equations for the bio-mechatronic system are presented here. The system has been tested functionally in several surgical procedures successfully. The analysis shows the workspace under postural conditions of navigation in real time, where it is possible to get visually self assistance during training or specific surgeries. The new bio-mechatronic system has been tested in training with inanimate and biological models, in veterinary surgery and pediatrics, with the appropriate consent and respecting the Treaty of Helsinki.

An Anthropomorphic Robotic Head for Investigating Gaze Control

This paper presents the biomechatronic design and development of an anthropomorphic robotic head able to perform human eye movements as a tool for experimental investigation in neuroscience. This robotic head has been designed upon specifications derived from models of the human head and of human neck and eye movements, in terms of total mass, geometry, number of degrees of freedom (d.o.f.), joint velocities and accelerations. The robotic head has 7 d.o.f.: 4 d.o.f. specifically allowing the neck movements and 3 d.o.f. dedicated to the faster eye movements; it has a total mass of approximately 5.6 kg, and it is capable of reaching a maximum eye velocity and acceleration of 1000°/s and 10 000°/s2, respectively, compatible with human data. The coordination of neck and eye movements allows smooth pursuit; and the independent eye yaw movements allow vergence. As an example, the use of this robotic head for validating a novel neurophysiological model of gaze control is presented. The model has been implemented on the robot, which can transform the retina images into their mapping onto the relevant brain area (superior colliculus), calculate the coordinates of a visual stimulus appearing in the periphery, generate the velocity profiles for the eye motors and execute the eye movements. This implementation shows that the robotic head can perform human-like saccades and allows experimental comparison with human data, so as to validate and revise the model itself.

Biomechatronic Design and Control of an Anthropomorphic Artificial Hand for Prosthetic and Robotic Applications

This paper proposes a biomechatronic approach to the design of an anthropomorphic artificial hand able to mimic the natural motion of the human fingers. The hand is conceived to be applied to prosthetics as well as to humanoid and personal robotics; hence, anthropomorphism is a fundamental requirement to be addressed both in the physical aspect and in the functional behavior. In this paper, a biomechatronic approach is addressed to harmonize the mechanical design of the anthropomorphic artificial hand with the design of the hand control system. More in detail, this paper focuses on the control system of the hand and on the optimization of the hand design in order to obtain a human-like kinematics and dynamics. By evaluating the simulated hand performance, the mechanical design is iteratively refined. The mechanical structure and the ratio between number of actuators and number of degrees of freedom (DOFs) have been optimized in order to cope with the strict size and weight constraints that are typical of application of artificial hands to prosthetics and humanoid robotics. The proposed hand has a kinematic structure similar to the natural hand featuring three articulated fingers (thumb, index, and middle finger with 3 DOF for each finger and 1 DOF for the abduction/adduction of the thumb) driven by four dc motors. A special underactuated transmission has been designed that allows keeping the number of motors as low as possible while achieving a self-adaptive grasp, as a result of the passive compliance of the distal DOF of the fingers. A proper hand control scheme has been designed and implemented for the study and optimization of hand motor performance in order to achieve a human-like motor behavior. To this aim, available data on motion of the human fingers are collected from the neuroscience literature in order to derive a reference input for the control. Simulation trials and computer-aided design (CAD) mechanical tools are used to obtain a finger model including its dynamics. Also the closed-loop control system is simulated in order to study the effect of iterative mechanical redesign and to define the final set of mechanical parameters for the hand optimization. Results of the experimental tests carried out for validating the model of the robotic finger, and details on the process of integrated refinement and optimization of the mechanical structure and of the hand motor control scheme are extensively reported in the paper.

A two DoF finger for a biomechatronic artificial hand

Current prosthetic hands are basically simple grippers with one or two degrees of freedom, which barely restore the capability of the thumb-index pinch. Although most amputees consider this performance as acceptable for usual tasks, there is ample room for improvement by exploiting recent progresses in mechatronics design and technology. We are developing a novel prosthetic hand featured by multiple degrees of freedom, tactile sensing capabilities, and distributed control. Our main goal is to pursue an integrated design approach in order to fulfill critical requirements such as cosmetics, controllability, low weight, low energy consumption and noiselessness. This approach can be synthesized by the definition "biomechatronic design", which means developing mechatronic systems inspired by living beings and able to work harmoniously with them. This paper describes the first implementation of one single finger of a future biomechatronic hand. The finger has a modular design, which allows to obtain hands with different degrees of freedom and grasping capabilities. Current developments include the implementation of a hand comprising three fingers (opposing thumb, index and middle) and an embedded controller.