Medsnake

Inspiration

When you think of a robot, the first thing that comes to mind is usually a rigid, metal structure. However, soft robotics is a rapidly growing field that is primarily used in manufacturing and medicine. With our hack, we created a soft robot that would be used in surgery as a means of being less invasive. Thus, this means the surgery would have less risk with fewer and smaller incisions.

What it does

1. Helps surgeons scout the area with image recognition (picamera)
2. Allows surgeons to make smaller incisions
3. Stops bleeding

How we built it

We made a hollow silicon body with Ecoflex-30. There are three individual chambers that are melded together with more silicon. We used an air pump to inflate each chamber through the tubing. The airflow is controlled using a joystick and servos that restrict airflow in the tubing.

We used an Arduino Uno and a joystick to control the three servos. By restricting the airflow, the Medsnake moves in different directions, allowing the surgeon to control movement. The Raspberrypi uses image recognition to probe the area.

Challenges we ran into

We originally tried to control airflow using one servo and a makeshift valve but there was too much pressure for the micro servo to handle.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Making the soft robot mold. The silicon needed to be mixed and cured.

What we learned

-How to use Ecoflex-30 -Using a joystick -More uses for ml.

What's next for Medsnake

• We hope to incorporate image recognition more and train models to detect tumors and symptoms from the illness. This would help medical professionals scout a patient's symptoms and diagnose a problem.

Built With

• arduino
• c++
• opencv
• python
• raspberry-pi
• tensorflow