Key technologies

Several key technologies are developed thanks to SPIRITS for interventional radiology and more generally for hybrid image-guided surgery:

3D Printing of multimaterial polymer structures for the design of highly-integrated robotic structures. Picture on the left represents a proof-of-concept developed at INSA Strasbourg - ICube lab (©ICUBE).

Tactile transducer design and manufacturing using MEMS technology, with hydrostatic design for efficient feedback. Picture on the left describes the multi-scale design of tactile transducer as developed by HFU (©HFU).

Hydraulic actuation to build compact and efficient actuated tools in the medical environment. Picture on the left represents CAD designs of hydraulically-driven surgical tools introduced by UMM, compatible with surgical applications in terms of size and force generation (©UMM).

3D printing of Ti and NiTi. Complex metal alloys can be produced by FHNW with control of microstructure and material properties. Picture on the left represent sample parts obtained using in-house equipments of FHNW (©FHNW).

Instrumented surgical tools. Integration of optical technologies in surgical tools opens the way to precision increase in robotised tasks for medical application. Picture on the left represents micro-surgery tool with embedded force sensor to improve tissue manipulation (©EPFL).