Thrilled to share our newly accepted paper in IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics, where we introduce a soft, endoscope-deployable microfluidic suction robot that combines multimodal intraluminal locomotion with localized aspiration and sampling for targeted mucus clearance and liquid biopsy.
๐ง โจ What we developed:
A soft intraluminal robotic platform that:
๐น Integrates Locomotion + Sampling: A pneumatically controlled 2ร2 pouch matrix for multimodal actuation, paired with an independent microfluidic suction module for active liquid extraction and sample recovery.
๐น Enables Stable Pitch Control: A balloon-based pitch control mechanism improves controllability for intraluminal operation, with the best overall performance observed at an initial pressure range of 2โ3 kPa.
๐น Balances Compliance and Safety: Single-pouch characterization guided the selection of a 2 mm pouch radius, achieving up to 246.91% maximum deformation; burst tests show a system safety factor โ 5.27 under the reported operating conditions.
๐น Targets Real Clinical Pain Points: Designed for constrained lumens (e.g., distal airway) where conventional airway clearance approaches struggle with reach and effectiveness.
๐ฏ Key Results:
โ Multimodal mobility: Differential actuation achieves 26.9 mm/min forward speed and 4.86ยฐ yaw per drive cycle.
โ Robust suction across viscosities: Efficiently extracts 20โ80% glycerol solutions within 10 s (via parameter tuning).
โ In vivo feasibility: Endoscope-assisted porcine validation confirmed sequential pouch-driven motion and successful recovery of biological samples containing mucus and tissue fragments after saline irrigation.
๐ก Why it matters:
This work demonstrates a compliant, integrated โmove + anchor + suctionโ approach for narrow lumensโsupporting safer localized intervention and sampling, with a path toward distal airway translation.
๐ฑ Whatโs next?
Weโre moving toward more automated closed-loop pneumatic control, improved steerability/navigation, and miniaturization for deeper airway accessโwhile expanding validation in airway-specific models.
