Neural Network-Based Active Load-Sensing Scheme and Stiffness Adjustment for Pneumatic Soft Actuators for Minimally Invasive Surgery Support
To provide a stable surgical view in Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS), it is necessary for a flexible endoscope applied in MIS to have adjustable stiffness to resist different external loads from surrounding organs and tissues. Pneumatic soft actuators are expected to fulfill this role, since they c...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/2/833 |
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| author | Yuxi Lu Zhongchao Zhou Shota Kokubu Ruian Qin Pablo E. Tortós Vinocour Wenwei Yu |
| author_facet | Yuxi Lu Zhongchao Zhou Shota Kokubu Ruian Qin Pablo E. Tortós Vinocour Wenwei Yu |
| author_sort | Yuxi Lu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | To provide a stable surgical view in Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS), it is necessary for a flexible endoscope applied in MIS to have adjustable stiffness to resist different external loads from surrounding organs and tissues. Pneumatic soft actuators are expected to fulfill this role, since they could feed the endoscope with an internal access channel and adjust their stiffness via an antagonistic mechanism. For that purpose, it is essential to estimate the external load. In this study, we proposed a neural network (NN)-based active load-sensing scheme and stiffness adjustment for a soft actuator for MIS support with antagonistic chambers for three degrees of freedom (DoFs) of control. To deal with the influence of the nonlinearity of the soft actuating system and uncertainty of the interaction between the soft actuator and its environment, an environment exploration strategy was studied for improving the robustness of sensing. Moreover, a NN-based inverse dynamics model for controlling the stiffness of the soft actuator with different flexible endoscopes was proposed too. The results showed that the exploration strategy with different sequence lengths improved the estimation accuracy of external loads in different conditions. The proposed method for external load exploration and inverse dynamics model could be used for in-depth studies of stiffness control of soft actuators for MIS support. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T11:17:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8df18d7d17ee4f4f8c656fb941aa60f4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T11:17:19Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-8df18d7d17ee4f4f8c656fb941aa60f42023-12-01T00:28:23ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202023-01-0123283310.3390/s23020833Neural Network-Based Active Load-Sensing Scheme and Stiffness Adjustment for Pneumatic Soft Actuators for Minimally Invasive Surgery SupportYuxi Lu0Zhongchao Zhou1Shota Kokubu2Ruian Qin3Pablo E. Tortós Vinocour4Wenwei Yu5Department of Medical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University, Chiba 263-8522, JapanDepartment of Medical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University, Chiba 263-8522, JapanDepartment of Medical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University, Chiba 263-8522, JapanDepartment of Medical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University, Chiba 263-8522, JapanDepartment of Medical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University, Chiba 263-8522, JapanDepartment of Medical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University, Chiba 263-8522, JapanTo provide a stable surgical view in Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS), it is necessary for a flexible endoscope applied in MIS to have adjustable stiffness to resist different external loads from surrounding organs and tissues. Pneumatic soft actuators are expected to fulfill this role, since they could feed the endoscope with an internal access channel and adjust their stiffness via an antagonistic mechanism. For that purpose, it is essential to estimate the external load. In this study, we proposed a neural network (NN)-based active load-sensing scheme and stiffness adjustment for a soft actuator for MIS support with antagonistic chambers for three degrees of freedom (DoFs) of control. To deal with the influence of the nonlinearity of the soft actuating system and uncertainty of the interaction between the soft actuator and its environment, an environment exploration strategy was studied for improving the robustness of sensing. Moreover, a NN-based inverse dynamics model for controlling the stiffness of the soft actuator with different flexible endoscopes was proposed too. The results showed that the exploration strategy with different sequence lengths improved the estimation accuracy of external loads in different conditions. The proposed method for external load exploration and inverse dynamics model could be used for in-depth studies of stiffness control of soft actuators for MIS support.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/2/833NN-based active load-sensing schemeexploration strategysoft actuator in MISadjust stiffness |
| spellingShingle | Yuxi Lu Zhongchao Zhou Shota Kokubu Ruian Qin Pablo E. Tortós Vinocour Wenwei Yu Neural Network-Based Active Load-Sensing Scheme and Stiffness Adjustment for Pneumatic Soft Actuators for Minimally Invasive Surgery Support Sensors NN-based active load-sensing scheme exploration strategy soft actuator in MIS adjust stiffness |
| title | Neural Network-Based Active Load-Sensing Scheme and Stiffness Adjustment for Pneumatic Soft Actuators for Minimally Invasive Surgery Support |
| title_full | Neural Network-Based Active Load-Sensing Scheme and Stiffness Adjustment for Pneumatic Soft Actuators for Minimally Invasive Surgery Support |
| title_fullStr | Neural Network-Based Active Load-Sensing Scheme and Stiffness Adjustment for Pneumatic Soft Actuators for Minimally Invasive Surgery Support |
| title_full_unstemmed | Neural Network-Based Active Load-Sensing Scheme and Stiffness Adjustment for Pneumatic Soft Actuators for Minimally Invasive Surgery Support |
| title_short | Neural Network-Based Active Load-Sensing Scheme and Stiffness Adjustment for Pneumatic Soft Actuators for Minimally Invasive Surgery Support |
| title_sort | neural network based active load sensing scheme and stiffness adjustment for pneumatic soft actuators for minimally invasive surgery support |
| topic | NN-based active load-sensing scheme exploration strategy soft actuator in MIS adjust stiffness |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/2/833 |
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