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Problem
Problem
Peripheral artery disease (PAD) affects up to 20% of individuals over 70 years old, causing reduced blood flow due to plaque buildup in arteries. Current treatments, such as balloon angioplasty and atherectomy, can restore lumen diameter but introduce risks: balloon angioplasty only presses plaque into the vessel wall (with potential for rupture), while atherectomy can introduce the risk of fibrous cap removal and can expose the lipid core, causing thrombosis, restenosis, and vessel perforation. A safer intervention is needed, one that can restore blood flow by dislodging plaque while minimising patient risk.
Approach
Approach
Our team designed a soft robotic catheter built from McKibben pneumatic artificial muscles capable of traversing tortuous, compliant vascular pathways. The device consisted of a central longitudinal muscle flanked by two inflatable muscle rings. By sequentially inflating and deflating these components, the device achieved an inchworm-like locomotion, allowing it to move forward, anchor, and reverse direction.
Once positioned at a plaque site, the rings could be inflated outward (while constrained internally) to apply controlled pressure to the vessel wall and dislodge plaque with high force precision. I contributed to device design, mathematical modeling, and low-fidelity, rapid prototyping, including characterization of linear vs. looped pneumatic muscles and evaluation of contraction behavior under syringe-driven pressurization. This involved CAD modeling, proof-of-concept fabrication, and benchtop validation of the device’s motion patterns.
Solution
Solution
The proof-of-concept prototype confirmed that pneumatic muscles could reliably produce both linear contraction (13%) and ring contraction (15–17%), generating enough force to interact with simulated vessel walls. The prototype successfully demonstrated the intended motion pattern and validated that sufficient force and friction could be achieved to stabilise the device during actuation without unwanted migration.
While limited by scale and resources, this study showed the feasibility of using soft robotics and pneumatic artificial muscles in endovascular applications. A future high-fidelity prototype could be miniaturised, integrated with controlled pneumatic systems, and tested in vascular phantoms, with the ultimate goal of providing a safer alternative to balloon angioplasty and atherectomy in the treatment of PAD.
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