Frog-like Robot Designed to Help in Keyhole Surgeries

Most robotic designs look to nature for inspiration. Similarly, a group of researchers from the University of Leeds have used the feet of tree frogs as a model to design a robot that can crawl into a patient's body during keyhole surgery.

According to the press release, this device is one of the growing bio inspired robots being built in the University's School of Mechanical Engineering. 'The One Show' on BBC featured this device.

This robot allows researchers a peek into what they are doing as the device moves through the internal abdominal wall of the patient.

The critical problem the researchers faced was to get the device to sit onto the wet slippery tissue when it is placed in a vertical or upside down position, but the researchers solved this by taking clues from the tree frog's feet. The frog's feet showed them a way to grip and release the abdominal wall without harming the patient.

"Tree frogs have hexagonal patterned channels on their feet that when in contact with a wet surface build capillary bridges, and hence an adhesion force. It is the same kind of idea as a beer glass sticking to a beer mat, but the patterns build a large number of adhesion points that allow our robot to move around on a very slippery surface when it is upside down," study lead professor Anne Neville, Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies at the University of Leeds, said in a press statement.

She further says that in order to work effectively, the robot should be able to move around all the areas of the abdominal wall. Apart from this, it should turn and stop under control and be able to capture good quality images for the surgeons by staying stable.

The frog like robot device consists of four feet and each foot is capable of holding a maximum of 15 grams for each square centimeter in contact with slippery surface.

The study was funded by New and Emerging Applications of Technology (NEAT) fund.