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    [{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"Cédric Girerd is a CNRS Researcher at LIRMM in Montpellier, France. He obtained his PhD from the University of Strasbourg in 2018, and Engineering Degree (≈ M.Sc.) from SIGMA Clermont and a Research Master (≈ M.Sc.) both in 2014 from the Blaise-Pascal University in Clermont-Ferrand.\nHis research interests include the design, instrumentation and control of continuum robots and soft robots for medical applications, such as minimally invasive surgery. He is part of the DEXTER Team at LIRMM, which conducts research in medical and industrial robots.\n","date":1725148800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"term","lang":"en","lastmod":1725148800,"objectID":"2525497d367e79493fd32b198b28f040","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/author/cedric-girerd/","publishdate":"2024-09-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/author/cedric-girerd/","section":"authors","summary":"Cédric Girerd is a CNRS Researcher at LIRMM in Montpellier, France. He obtained his PhD from the University of Strasbourg in 2018, and Engineering Degree (≈ M.Sc.) from SIGMA Clermont and a Research Master (≈ M.Sc.) both in 2014 from the Blaise-Pascal University in Clermont-Ferrand.\n","tags":null,"title":"Cédric Girerd","type":"authors"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"Camille Benoist is a CIFRE PhD Student at LIRMM in Montpellier, with Caranx Medical, a company located in Nice, France. She obtained her Engineering Degree (≈ M.Sc.) from ISEN.\n","date":-62135596800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"term","lang":"en","lastmod":-62135596800,"objectID":"3693dd10d07f86e4f9dfaf6fe23e755f","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/author/camille-benoist/","publishdate":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/author/camille-benoist/","section":"authors","summary":"Camille Benoist is a CIFRE PhD Student at LIRMM in Montpellier, with Caranx Medical, a company located in Nice, France. She obtained her Engineering Degree (≈ M.Sc.) from ISEN.\n","tags":null,"title":"Camille Benoist","type":"authors"},{"authors":[],"categories":null,"content":"Slides can be added in a few ways:\nCreate slides using Wowchemy’s Slides feature and link using slides parameter in the front matter of the talk file Upload an existing slide deck to static/ and link using url_slides parameter in the front matter of the talk file Embed your slides (e.g. Google Slides) or presentation video on this page using shortcodes. Further event details, including page elements such as image galleries, can be added to the body of this page.\n","date":1906549200,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1906549200,"objectID":"a8edef490afe42206247b6ac05657af0","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/event/example/","publishdate":"2017-01-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/event/example/","section":"event","summary":"An example event.","tags":[],"title":"Example Event","type":"event"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"We have a new open position for a PhD student in soft and inflatable robotics! Apply here: https://emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/Doctorant/UMR5506-CEDGIR-001/Default.aspx?lang=EN\n","date":1727049600,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1727049600,"objectID":"b2d6a0121b2463b0e1ec0a2aa31f5119","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/post/24-11-07-anr-extract-phd-position/","publishdate":"2024-09-23T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/post/24-11-07-anr-extract-phd-position/","section":"post","summary":"We have a new open position for a PhD student in soft and inflatable robotics! Apply here: https://emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/Doctorant/UMR5506-CEDGIR-001/Default.aspx?lang=EN\n","tags":null,"title":"💼 Open PhD Position in Soft and Inflatable Robotics","type":"post"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"It was a pleasure to attend ICRA@40, a special event for the anniversary of the ICRA conference, with inspiring talks from world-class researchers. We presented our TRO paper “Material Scrunching Enables Working Channels in Miniaturized Vine-Inspired Robots” during an interactive session. Check it out!\n","date":1727049600,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1727049600,"objectID":"5cba38f2cc01719755ae76f88f51b645","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/post/24-09-23-icra40/","publishdate":"2024-09-23T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/post/24-09-23-icra40/","section":"post","summary":"It was a pleasure to attend ICRA@40, a special event for the anniversary of the ICRA conference, with inspiring talks from world-class researchers. We presented our TRO paper “Material Scrunching Enables Working Channels in Miniaturized Vine-Inspired Robots” during an interactive session. Check it out!\n","tags":null,"title":"📊 Presentation of our paper at ICRA@40","type":"post"},{"authors":["Camille Benoist","Cédric Girerd","Nabil Zemiti","Philippe Poignet","Pierre Berthey-Rayne"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1725148800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1725148800,"objectID":"45affb755626dbeb95fa532bf34ffcf2","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/benoist24cras/","publishdate":"2024-09-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/benoist24cras/","section":"publication","summary":"","tags":[],"title":"Tendon-Driven vs Rod-Driven Continuum Robots: A Bench Test Evaluation","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Jui-Te Lin","Cédric Girerd","Benjamin T. Ostrander","Parsa Molaei","Hunter B. Gilbert","Philip A. Weissbrod","John T. Hwang","Tania K. Morimoto"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1719792000,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1719792000,"objectID":"1eb058f3fc00bb5c4fc68c9cbe20c33b","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/lin24tbme/","publishdate":"2024-07-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/lin24tbme/","section":"publication","summary":"Concentric tube robots (CTRs) are well-suited to address the unique challenges of minimally invasive surgical procedures due to their small size and ability to navigate highly constrained environments. However, uncertainties in the manufacturing process can lead to challenges in the transition from simulated designs to physical robots. In this work, we propose an end-to-end design workflow for CTRs that considers the often-overlooked impact of manufacturing uncertainty, focusing on two primary sources - tube curvature and diameter. This comprehensive approach incorporates a two-step design optimization and an uncertainty-based selection of manufacturing tolerances. Simulation results highlight the substantial influence of manufacturing uncertainties, particularly tube curvature, on the physical robot's performance. By integrating these uncertainties into the design process, we can effectively bridge the gap between simulation and real-world performance. Two hardware experiments validate the proposed CTR design workflow. The first experiment confirms that the performance of the physical robot lies within the simulated probability distribution from the optimization, while the second experiment demonstrates the feasibility of the overall system for use in micro-laryngeal surgical tasks. This work not only contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of CTR design by addressing manufacturing uncertainties, but also creates a new framework for robust design, as illustrated in the context of micro-laryngeal surgery.","tags":null,"title":"Closing the Loop on Concentric Tube Robot Design: A Case Study on Micro-Laryngeal Surgery","type":"publication"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"Very pleased to have participated to the Hong Kong AI and Robotics Forum for Healthcare and met with the local robotics community.\n","date":1711670400,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1711670400,"objectID":"9451aa55c074936fc5f4c9aa9c1b7229","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/post/24-03-29-hong-kong/","publishdate":"2024-03-29T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/post/24-03-29-hong-kong/","section":"post","summary":"Very pleased to have participated to the Hong Kong AI and Robotics Forum for Healthcare and met with the local robotics community.\n","tags":null,"title":"📊 Presentation at the Hong Kong AI and Robotics Forum for Healthcare","type":"post"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"Very pleased to have presented part of our work from our paper “Material Scrunching Enables Working Channels in Miniaturized Vine-Inspired Robots” at the MARSS conference and met with the microrobotics community.\n","date":1711670400,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1711670400,"objectID":"d9cbae924745f137d1ebfc7e5ec4d3e6","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/post/24-07-01-marss/","publishdate":"2024-03-29T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/post/24-07-01-marss/","section":"post","summary":"Very pleased to have presented part of our work from our paper “Material Scrunching Enables Working Channels in Miniaturized Vine-Inspired Robots” at the MARSS conference and met with the microrobotics community.\n","tags":null,"title":"📊 Presentation of our paper at the MARSS conference","type":"post"},{"authors":["Cédric Girerd","Anna Alvarez","Elliot W. Hawkes","Tania K. Morimoto"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1706745600,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1706745600,"objectID":"e9dc18322b482423ec98c23e59ccedbf","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/girerd24tro/","publishdate":"2024-02-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/girerd24tro/","section":"publication","summary":"A new subclass of soft robot, known as tip-extending or ``vine'' robots, consists of long inflatable devices that move through the environment by extending from the tip. A key requirement for many applications of these robots is a working channel---a hollow tube through the core of the robot for passing tools, sensors, fluids, etc. While working channels have been proposed in a few vine robots, it remains an open challenge to create miniaturized vine robots (diameter \u003c 1 cm) with working channels that enable continuous access through the core. In this paper, we analyze the growth models of current vine robot designs and show that the working channel greatly increases required pressure to grow at small scales due to internal friction. Based on this insight, we propose the concept of storing scrunched material at the tip of the vine robot to circumvent this frictional force. We validate our models and demonstrate this concept via prototypes down to diameters of 2.3 mm. Overall, this work enables the creation of miniaturized vine robots with working channels, which significantly enhances their practicality and potential for impact in applications such as minimally invasive surgery.","tags":null,"title":"Material Scrunching Enables Working Channels in Miniaturized Vine-Inspired Robots","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Ryan C. Dunn","Anugrah Jo Joshy","Jui-Te lin","Cédric Girerd","Tania K. Morimoto","John T. Hwang"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1701388800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1701388800,"objectID":"a5d40b79ec3f4dfec8175cad719cb419","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/dunn23optimization/","publishdate":"2023-12-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/dunn23optimization/","section":"publication","summary":"Many design optimization problems include constraints to prevent intersection of the geometric shape being optimized with other objects or with domain boundaries. When applying gradient-based optimization to such problems, the constraint function must provide an accurate representation of the domain boundary and be smooth, amenable to numerical differentiation, and fast-to-evaluate for a large number of points. We propose the use of tensor-product B-splines to construct an efficient-to-evaluate level set function that locally approximates the signed distance function for representing geometric non-interference constraints. Adapting ideas from the surface reconstruction methods, we formulate an energy minimization problem to compute the B-spline control points that define the level set function given an oriented point cloud sampled over a geometric shape. Unlike previous explicit non-interference constraint formulations, our method requires an initial setup operation, but results in a more efficient-to-evaluate and scalable representation of geometric non-interference constraints. This paper presents the results of accuracy and scaling studies performed on our formulation. We demonstrate our method by solving a medical robot design optimization problem with non-interference constraints. We achieve constraint evaluation times on the order of 10-6 seconds per point on a modern desktop workstation, and a maximum on-surface error of less than 1.0% of the minimum bounding box diagonal for all examples studied. Overall, our method provides an effective formulation for non-interference constraint enforcement with high computational efficiency for gradient-based design optimization problems whose solutions require at least hundreds of evaluations of constraints and their derivatives.","tags":null,"title":"Scalable enforcement of geometric non-interference constraints for gradient-based optimization","type":"publication"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"It was great participating to the Susan Calin colloquium in Toulouse, meet other roboticists and industrials who came to present their last inovations, with many demonstrations. My presentation can be viewed here (in French): ","date":1697673600,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1697673600,"objectID":"4a992803d5da4dcfee3590e3b678d5d5","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/post/23-10-19-susan-calvin/","publishdate":"2023-10-19T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/post/23-10-19-susan-calvin/","section":"post","summary":"It was great participating to the Susan Calin colloquium in Toulouse, meet other roboticists and industrials who came to present their last inovations, with many demonstrations. My presentation can be viewed here (in French): ","tags":null,"title":"📊 Presentation at the Susan Calvin Colloquium","type":"post"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"It was Open Lab Days this Saturday on campus! It was a pleasure to have so many visitors, of any age, who wanted to learn more about our activities. Looking forward to the 2024 session!\n","date":1697328000,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1697328000,"objectID":"01373a8fc9f79cfddc40b8a4479e5fbf","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/post/23-10-15-open-days/","publishdate":"2023-10-15T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/post/23-10-15-open-days/","section":"post","summary":"It was Open Lab Days this Saturday on campus! It was a pleasure to have so many visitors, of any age, who wanted to learn more about our activities. Looking forward to the 2024 session!\n","tags":null,"title":"🧪 Open Lab Days at LIRMM","type":"post"},{"authors":["Jingpei Lu","Fei Liu","Cédric Girerd","Michael C. Yip"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1682899200,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1682899200,"objectID":"bd94524f5c34e8ff63047870f4a7ac81","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/lu23icra/","publishdate":"2023-05-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/lu23icra/","section":"publication","summary":"State estimation from measured data is crucial for robotic applications as autonomous systems rely on sensors to capture the motion and localize in the 3D world. Among sensors that are designed for measuring a robot’s pose, or for soft robots, their shape, vision sensors are favorable because they are information-rich, easy to set up, and cost-effective. With recent advancements in computer vision, deep learning-based methods no longer require markers for identifying feature points on the robot. However, learning-based methods are data-hungry and hence not suitable for soft and prototyping robots, as building such bench-marking datasets is usually infeasible. In this work, we achieve image-based robot pose estimation and shape reconstruction from camera images. Our method requires no precise robot meshes, but rather utilizes a differentiable renderer and primitive shapes. It hence can be applied to robots for which CAD models might not be available or are crude. Our parameter estimation pipeline is fully differentiable. The robot shape and pose are estimated iteratively by back-propagating the image loss to update the parameters. We demonstrate that our method of using geometrical shape primitives can achieve high accuracy in shape reconstruction for a soft continuum robot and pose estimation for a robot manipulator.","tags":[],"title":"Image-based Pose Estimation and Shape Reconstruction for Robot Manipulators and Soft, Continuum Robots via Differentiable Rendering","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Agrim Gupta","Daegue Park","Shayaun Bashar","Cédric Girerd","Nagarjun Bhat","Siddhi Mundhra","Tania K. Morimoto","Dinesh Bharadia"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1677628800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1677628800,"objectID":"f8a684f3f5a5c32125d0073a25aebb4f","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/gupta23acm/","publishdate":"2023-03-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/gupta23acm/","section":"publication","summary":"Any two objects in contact with each other exert a force that could be simply due to gravity or mechanical contact, such as any ubiquitous object exerting weight on a platform or the contact between two bones at our knee joints. The most ideal way of capturing these contact forces is to have a flexible force sensor which can conform well to the contact surface. Further, the sensor should be thin enough to not affect the contact physics between the two objects. In this paper, we showcase the design of such thin, flexible sticker-like force sensors dubbed as 'ForceStickers', ushering into a new era of miniaturized force sensors. ForceSticker achieves this miniaturization by creating new class of capacitive force sensors which avoid both batteries, as well as wires. The wireless and batteryless readout is enabled via hybrid analog-digital backscatter, by piggybacking analog sensor data onto a digitally identified RFID link. Hence, ForceSticker finds natural applications in space and battery-constraint in-vivo usecases, like force-sensor backed orthopaedic implants, surgical robots. Further, ForceSticker finds applications in ubiquiti-constraint scenarios. For example, these force-stickers enable cheap, digitally readable barcodes that can provide weight information, with possible usecases in warehouse integrity checks. To meet these varied application scenarios, we showcase the general framework behind design of ForceSticker. With ForceSticker framework, we design 4mm*2mm sensor prototypes, with two different polymer layers of ecoflex and neoprene rubber, having force ranges of 0-6N and 0-40N respectively, with readout errors of 0.25, 1.6 N error each (\u003c5% of max. force). Further, we stress test ForceSticker by \u003e10,000 force applications without significant error degradation. We also showcase two case-studies onto the possible applications of ForceSticker, sensing forces from a toy knee-joint model and integrity checks of warehouse packaging.","tags":[],"title":"ForceSticker: Wireless, Batteryless, Thin \u0026 Flexible Force Sensors","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Chibundo Nwafor","Cédric Girerd","Guillaume J. Laurent","Tania K. Morimoto","Kanty Rabenorosoa"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1675382400,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1675382400,"objectID":"51aa52ce3faf6bbc2437ba91020c59a4","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/chibundo22tro/","publishdate":"2023-02-03T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/chibundo22tro/","section":"publication","summary":"Concentric tube robots (CTRs) have drawn significant research attention over the years, particularly due to their applications in minimally invasive surgery (MIS). Indeed, their small size, flexibility, and high dexterity enable several potential benefits for MIS. Research has led to an increasing number of discoveries and scientific breakthroughs in CTR design, fabrication, control, and applications. Numerous prototypes have emerged from different research groups, each with their own design and specifications. This survey paper provides an overview of the state-of-the-art of the mechatronics aspects of CTRs, including approaches for the design and fabrication of the tubes, actuation unit, and end effector. In addition to the various hardware and associated fabrication methods, we propose to the research community, a unifying way of classifying CTRs based on their actuation unit architecture, as well as a set of specification details for evaluation of future CTR prototypes. Finally, we also aim to highlight the current advancements, challenges, and perspectives of CTR design and fabrication.","tags":null,"title":"Design and Fabrication of Concentric Tube Robots: A Survey","type":"publication"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"","date":1666569600,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1666569600,"objectID":"6d99026b9e19e4fa43d5aadf147c7176","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/contact/","publishdate":"2022-10-24T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/contact/","section":"","summary":"","tags":null,"title":"Contact","type":"landing"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"","date":1666569600,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1666569600,"objectID":"fda9de08cc6cddadcb7f01ae7e305559","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/resources/ctr_prototyping/","publishdate":"2022-10-24T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/resources/ctr_prototyping/","section":"resources","summary":"","tags":null,"title":"CTR Prototyping","type":"landing"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"","date":1666569600,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1666569600,"objectID":"0ce90e35b3a435a62ef800541e60f420","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/opportunities/","publishdate":"2022-10-24T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/opportunities/","section":"","summary":"","tags":null,"title":"Opportunities","type":"landing"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"","date":1666569600,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1666569600,"objectID":"c1d17ff2b20dca0ad6653a3161942b64","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/people/","publishdate":"2022-10-24T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/people/","section":"","summary":"","tags":null,"title":"People","type":"landing"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"","date":1666569600,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1666569600,"objectID":"99320e8ccffbe11687a1f16e36605a1f","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/resources/tip_growing_robots/","publishdate":"2022-10-24T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/resources/tip_growing_robots/","section":"resources","summary":"","tags":null,"title":"Tip-Growing Robots","type":"landing"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"","date":1666569600,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1666569600,"objectID":"b0d61e5cbb7472bf320bf0ef2aaeb977","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/tour/","publishdate":"2022-10-24T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/tour/","section":"","summary":"","tags":null,"title":"Tour","type":"landing"},{"authors":["Mufeng Xie","Cédric Girerd","Tania K. Morimoto"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1659312000,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1659312000,"objectID":"939c6600310528b33a7fe47a26e25e3d","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/xie22biorob/","publishdate":"2022-08-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/xie22biorob/","section":"publication","summary":"Continuum robots offer many advantages for navigation in constrained environments, due to their flexible backbone and ability to conform to complex shapes. However, their non-intuitive kinematics can lead to challenges in the design and mapping strategies used for human-in-the-loop control interfaces. In this paper, we propose a new 3-D haptic trackball interface that is specifically designed to be both an input and feedback device for teleoperating continuum robots. The system allows the operator to control the tip position of the robot with high accuracy over a large workspace, and it provides haptic feedback, when necessary, in order to assist the operator with performing various tasks. A subjective study was conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed interface compared to a commercially available system and to evaluate the effects of providing haptic feedback. The interfaces were used to perform two different teleoperation tasks, and the new haptic trackball interface resulted in higher accuracy and improved obstacle avoidance, illustrating its potential as a more effective teleoperation interface.","tags":[],"title":"A 3-D Haptic Trackball Interface for Teleoperating Continuum Robots","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Ayush Giri","Cédric Girerd","Xiaolei Luo","Ryan Broderick","Tania K. Morimoto"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1659312000,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1659312000,"objectID":"fd1e4691bcdf36e2e36dfd983db01899","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/giri22biorob/","publishdate":"2022-08-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/giri22biorob/","section":"publication","summary":"Soft suction cups have been proposed for many applications, including manipulating soft tissues and measuring mechanical properties of the skin. Models that can predict the attachment behavior of such suction cups on their target substrates can help to enable efficient and systematic design. In this work, we develop a finite element model that correctly predicts the attachment behavior of positive-pressure actuated suction cups on both soft and rigid substrates. The model is used in an optimization study to determine a suction cup design that maximizes the attachment force. We propose to use positive-pressure actuated suction cups for anchoring and stabilizing flexible surgical tools during minimally invasive surgery. The optimized suction cup’s ability to resist external forces on rigid and soft substrates and on live porcine tissues is evaluated. It is found that the suction cup could resist up to 3.34 N of normal force and up to 1.59 N of shear force on certain porcine tissues, demonstrating its potential as an anchoring unit for surgical applications.","tags":[],"title":"Modeling and Design of Soft, Positive-Pressure Actuated Suction Cups for Anchoring in Minimally Invasive Surgery","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Jui-Te Lin","Cédric Girerd","Jiayao Yan","John T. Hwang","Tania K. Morimoto"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1655856000,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1655856000,"objectID":"b5b3346f672239574cc17aeac02e63c6","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/lin22tro/","publishdate":"2022-06-22T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/lin22tro/","section":"publication","summary":"Concentric tube robots (CTRs) show particular promise for minimally invasive surgery due to their inherent compliance and ability to navigate in constrained environments. Due to variations in anatomy among patients and variations in task requirements among procedures, it is necessary to customize the design of these robots on a patient- or population-specific basis. However, the complex kinematics and large design space make the design problem challenging. In this article, we propose a computational framework that can efficiently optimize a robot design and a motion plan to enable safe navigation through the patient's anatomy. The current framework is the first fully gradient-based method for CTR design optimization and motion planning, enabling an efficient and scalable solution for simultaneously optimizing continuous variables, even across multiple anatomies. The framework is demonstrated using two clinical examples, laryngoscopy and heart biopsy, where the optimization problems are solved for a single patient and across multiple patients, respectively.","tags":null,"title":"A Generalized Framework for Concentric Tube Robot Design Using Gradient-Based Optimization","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Daegue Park","Agrim Gupta","Shayaun Bashar","Cédric Girerd","Dinesh Bharadia","Tania K. Morimoto"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1655683200,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1655683200,"objectID":"54300d63fb8f42c4c491fad0b58fb70e","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/park22ral/","publishdate":"2022-06-20T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/park22ral/","section":"publication","summary":"The ability to sense forces is a critical component for ensuring that robots can safely interact with their environment. Yet there are numerous situations, in particular for medical applications, where environmental and sensor density requirements can pose challenges to sensor design. In our previous work, we presented a novel wireless force sensing paradigm based on wave backscattering. In this paper, we present an improved and miniaturized design suitable for wireless communications. We present an end-to-end simulation of the proposed sensor, its fabrication, modeling, and experimental validations in a wired setting. Our sensor can sense forces in the range of 0 to 6 N, with a Root Mean Square (RMS) error of 0.17 N, on average, for our two sensor prototypes, and it provides wireless compatibility in a range of frequencies adapted for use inside the human body. We present a demonstration of contact force sensing with our sensors mounted on the body of a continuum robot and show its potential to enable applications in fields such as medical robotics.","tags":null,"title":"Design and Evaluation of a Miniaturized Force Sensor Based on Wave Backscattering","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Dang Viet Anh Nguyen","Cédric Girerd","Quentin Boyer","Patrick Rougeot","Olivier Lehmann","Laurent Tavernier","Jérôme Szewczyk","Kanty Rabenorosoa"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1637107200,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1637107200,"objectID":"7a16bc01d91085aa5cab906f4aa939ca","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/nguyen21ral/","publishdate":"2021-11-17T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/nguyen21ral/","section":"publication","summary":"This letter presents a hybrid concentric tube robot which covers the middle ear volume for exhaustive ablation of residual cholesteatoma. The proposed robotic system combines a concentric tube robot and a wrist at the distal end, actuated by a tendon. We first introduce the surgical protocol through two access points (ear canal and few millimeters size hole through the mastoid), then derive the anatomical constraints and specify the robot tasks. Based on the robot model enriched with the optical fiber stiffness and on anatomical constraints, the robot parameters are determined as the ones among discretized sets that provide the maximal volume coverage. Experiments are conducted with a benchtop prototype on a 3D printed middle ear phantom to validate the wrist model with the optical fiber and the robot repeatability assessment. The wrist model achieved an root mean square error (RMSE) of 1.33◦ and R2 = 96.8%. The robot repeatability has an RMSE of 0.7 mm for distance errors and 1.34◦ - 2.42◦ - 3.11◦ for the angular ones. We finally demonstrated the ablation of cholesteatoma by the embedded optical fiber on the hybrid concentric tube robot prototype.","tags":null,"title":"A Hybrid Concentric Tube Robot for Cholesteatoma Laser Surgery","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Agrim Gupta","Cédric Girerd","Manideep Dunna","Qiming Zhang","Raghav Subbaraman","Tania K. Morimoto","Dinesh Bharadia"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1630454400,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1630454400,"objectID":"c596220686ea9fb002317535ea9ed2fc","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/gupta22getmobile/","publishdate":"2021-09-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/gupta22getmobile/","section":"publication","summary":"All interactions of objects, humans, and machines with the physical world are via contact forces. For instance, objects placed on a table exert their gravitational forces, and the contact interactions via our hands/feet are guided by the sense of contact force felt by our skin. Thus, the ability to sense the contact forces can allow us to measure all these ubiquitous interactions, enabling a myriad of applications. Furthermore, force sensors are a critical requirement for safer surgeries, which require measuring complex contact forces experienced as a surgical instrument interacts with the surrounding tissues during the surgical procedure. However, with currently available discrete point-force sensors, which require a battery to sense the forces and communicate the readings wirelessly, these ubiquitous sensing and surgical sensing applications are not practical. This motivates the development of new force sensors that can sense, and communicate wirelessly without consuming significant power to enable a battery-free design. In this magazine article, we present WiForce, a low-power wireless force sensor utilizing a joint sensing-communication paradigm. That is, instead of having separate sensing and communication blocks, WiForce directly transduces the force measurements onto variations in wireless signals reflecting WiForce from the sensor. This novel trans-duction mechanism also allows WiForce to generalize easily to a length continuum, where we can detect as well as localize forces acting on the continuum. We fabricate and test our sensor prototype in different scenarios, including testing beneath a tissue phantom, and obtain sub-N sensing and sub-mm localizing accuracies (0.34 N and 0.6 mm, respectively).","tags":[],"title":"Expanding the horizons of wireless sensing: Sensing and localizing contact forces with signal reflections","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Cédric Girerd","Qiming Zhang","Agrim Gupta","Manideep Dunna","Dinesh Bharadia","Tania K. Morimoto","Equal contribution","Equal contribution"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1614556800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1614556800,"objectID":"28865cd1a36f5fe881e4e569e2b754b6","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/girerd21sensors/","publishdate":"2021-03-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/girerd21sensors/","section":"publication","summary":"In medical applications, sensing forces along surgical tools is of high importance in order to avoid collateral damage of tissue and surrounding structures. However, the space available in their central lumen limits the routing of wired sensors that are widely available today, and thus their integration into such tools. In this paper, we present a new wireless force sensor based on wave backscattering that reflects electromagnetic waves with phase changes that are directly related to the applied force magnitude and location. The proposed sensor can sense force magnitudes with an average error of 0.01 N and a standard deviation of 0.49 N, and their application location with an average error of -0.33 mm and a standard deviation of 0.82 mm. The sensor also has the potential to be translated to applications beyond medical instruments, including applications involving a large number of sensors and situations where wire routing is challenging due to the environment in which they are used.","tags":null,"title":"Towards a Wireless Force Sensor Based on Wave Backscattering for Medical Applications","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Agrim Gupta","Cédric Girerd","Manideep Dunna","Qiming Zhang","Raghav Subbaraman","Tania K. Morimoto","Dinesh Bharadia"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1614556800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1614556800,"objectID":"7f02eb01ed04b1cffd38590effa0e8e8","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/gupta21nsdi/","publishdate":"2021-03-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/gupta21nsdi/","section":"publication","summary":"Contact force is a natural way for humans to interact with the physical world around us. However, most of our interactions with the digital world are largely based on a simple binary sense of touch (contact or no contact). Similarly, when interacting with robots to perform complex tasks, such as surgery, richer force information that includes both magnitude and contact location is important for task performance. To address these challenges, we present the design and fabrication of WiForce which is a ‘wireless’ sensor, sentient to contact force magnitude and location. WiForce achieves this by transducing force magnitude and location, to phase changes of an incident RF signal of a backscattering tag. The phase changes are thus modulated into the backscattered RF signal, which enables measurement of force magnitude and contact location by inferring the phases of the reflected RF signal. WiForce’s sensor is designed to support wide-band frequencies all the way up to 3 GHz. We evaluate the force sensing wirelessly in different environments, including through phantom tissue, and achieve force accuracy of 0.3 N and contact location accuracy of 0.6 mm.","tags":[],"title":"WiForce: Wireless Sensing and Localization of Contact Forces on a Space Continuum","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Cédric Girerd","Tania K. Morimoto"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1606780800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1606780800,"objectID":"16ef0430451e1fd4e3aa3dbbf7bd28f4","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/girerd20tro/","publishdate":"2020-12-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/girerd20tro/","section":"publication","summary":"Minimally invasive surgery is of high interest for interventional medicine since the smaller incisions can lead to less pain and faster recovery for patients. The current standard-of-care involves a range of affordable, manual, hand-held rigid tools, whose limited dexterity and range of adoptable shapes can prevent access to confined spaces. In contrast, recently developed roboticized tools that can provide increased accessibility and dexterity to navigate and perform complex tasks often come at the cost of larger, heavier, and grounded devices that are teleoperated, posing a new set of challenges. In this article, we propose a new hand-held concentric tube robot with an associated position control method that has the dexterity and precision of large roboticized devices, while maintaining the footprint of a traditional hand-held tool. The device shows human-in-the-loop control performance that meets the requirements of the targeted application, percutaneous abscess drainage. In addition, a small user study illustrates the advantage of combining rigid body motion of the device with more precise motions of the tip, thus showing the potential to bridge the gap between traditional hand-held tools and grounded robotic devices.","tags":null,"title":"Design and Control of a Hand-Held Concentric Tube Robot for Minimally Invasive Surgery","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Cédric Girerd","Andrey V. Kudryavtsev","Patrick Rougeot","Pierre Renaud","Kanty Rabenorosoa","Brahim Tamadazte","Equal contribution","Equal contribution"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1601510400,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1601510400,"objectID":"1d6586690d5d75b6b34f7d0e2e8ec2bb","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/girerd20tmrb/","publishdate":"2020-10-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/girerd20tmrb/","section":"publication","summary":"Concentric tube robots are continuum robots particularly well-suited for minimally-invasive surgery. Their small diameter, natural free channel and snake-like shape unlock the potential for applications that require a high degree of dexterity in confined spaces. The synthesis and planning of such robots are generally based on the patient's anatomy and the type of surgery to be performed. However, their practical deployment can be challenging. Open-loop approaches are prone to errors due to modeling accuracy or physiological motions of the patient during the procedure, and human-in-the-loop approaches require specific skills from the surgeon. In this article, we propose an automatic tip-steering approach for concentric tube robots based on visual SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping). This allows a closed-loop control scheme to compensate for open-loop errors, and provides to the surgeon the opportunity to focus on the medical procedure, simplifying the management of the deployment. A method is proposed in the case of a robot geometry that achieves approximate follow-the-leader deployment. It is validated by performing an automatic tip-steering task in the trachea using a realistic simulator for concentric tube robots.","tags":null,"title":"Automatic Tip-Steering of Concentric Tube Robots in the Trachea Based on Visual SLAM","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Cédric Girerd","Thomas Schlinquer","Nicolas Andreff","Pierre Renaud","Kanty Rabenorosoa"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1596240000,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1596240000,"objectID":"b6131343c16f93f458be53d39a955088","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/girerd19jmr/","publishdate":"2020-08-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/girerd19jmr/","section":"publication","summary":"Concentric tube robots (CTRs) have a great potential for use in medical applications. Coupled with a follow-the-leader (FTL) deployment, they allow navigation in constrained environments. However, they are subject to instabilities if one makes use of high curvatures for the tubes, long overlapping lengths of their curved sections, or long transmission lengths. One approach to improve their stability is to pattern the tubes of which they are composed by local removals of material along their lengths. Applying patterns on tubes was proved to be of interest for given deployed lengths of a CTR. In this article, we present a method to enlarge the application field of CTRs that deploy in a follow-the-leader manner, by integrating tube patterning in the design process, with a stability criterion. Our method allows the designer to determine a custom pattern geometry to theoretically ensure the stability of CTRs made of any number of constant curvature tubes, for a complete FTL deployment sequence, and while respecting a desired shape during deployment.","tags":null,"title":"Design of Concentric Tube Robots using Tube Patterning for Follow-the-Leader Deployment","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Cédric Girerd","Andrey V. Kudryavtsev","Patrick Rougeot","Pierre Renaud","Kanty Rabenorosoa","Brahim Tamadazte","Equal contribution","Equal contribution"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1585699200,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1585699200,"objectID":"05eba5820418f4f23b7696a1545788f4","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/girerd20ral/","publishdate":"2020-04-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/girerd20ral/","section":"publication","summary":"This paper deals with an original combination of navigation by simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) and follow-the-leader (FTL) deployment for the control of concentric tube robots (CTRs). The objective is to make possible the automatic navigation of such continuum robots within an anatomical structure, by simultaneously managing both collision avoidance and map updating of the environment, i.e., of the surrounding anatomical structures. Indeed, CTRs designed to achieve a FTL deployment to date were deployed on path identified during a planning task. In this work, this limitation is overcome by embedding, in the control scheme, an online trajectory estimation, therefore allowing an autonomous deployment of CTRs with an approximate FTL behavior. The proposed hybrid control law integrates a stability criterion to ensure at the same time CTR stability during deployment, required for a FTL deployment. The interest of the approach is demonstrated through simulation using realistic anatomical data and experiments, with a 3 degrees-of-freedom CTR.","tags":null,"title":"SLAM-Based Follow-the-Leader Deployment of Concentric Tube Robots","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Laurent Tavernier","Emmanuel Haffen","Cédric Girerd","Kanty Rabenorosoa","Pierre Renaud","Brahim Tamadazte"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1559347200,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1559347200,"objectID":"55468c5cad078dc688640d6bb432385e","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/tavernier19orlcorsica/","publishdate":"2019-06-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/tavernier19orlcorsica/","section":"publication","summary":"","tags":[],"title":"Détection optique endonasale de la maladie d'Alzheimer","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Cédric Girerd","Thomas Lihoreau","Kanty Rabenorosoa","Brahim Tamadazte","Mourad Benassarou","Laurent Tavernier","Lionel Pazart","Emmanuel Haffen","Nicolas Andreff","Pierre Renaud"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1527811200,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1527811200,"objectID":"e137cbca5917575787c80ed981e10f13","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/girerd18abme/","publishdate":"2018-06-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/girerd18abme/","section":"publication","summary":"Inspecting the olfactory cleft can be of high interest, as it is an open access to neurons, and thus an opportunity to collect in situ related data in a non-invasive way. Also, recent studies show a strong link between olfactory deficiency and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases. However, no inspection of this area is possible today, as it is very difficult to access. Only robot-assisted interventions seem viable to provide the required dexterity. The feasibility of this approach is demonstrated in this article, which shows that the path complexity to the olfactory cleft can be managed with a concentric tube robot (CTR), a particular type of continuum robot. First, new anatomical data are elaborated, in particular for the olfactory cleft, that remains hardly characterized. 3D reconstructions are conducted on the database of 20 subjects, using CT scan images. Measurements are performed to describe the anatomy, including metrics with inter-subject variability. Then, the existence of collision-free passageways for CTR is shown using the 3D reconstructions. Among the 20 subjects, 19 can be inspected using only 3 different robot geometries. This constitutes an essential step towards a robotic device to inspect subjects for clinical purposes.","tags":null,"title":"In Vivo Inspection of the Olfactory Epithelium: Feasibility of Robotized Optical Biopsy","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Cédric Girerd"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1514764800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1514764800,"objectID":"49cd9d1cafe599e65aab9f58368692aa","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/girerd18phdthesis/","publishdate":"2018-01-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/girerd18phdthesis/","section":"publication","summary":"This PhD thesis is part of the ANR NEMRO project, whose goal is to study the hypothetical correlation between olfactory deficiency and neurodegenerative diseases. For this purpose, an optical biopsy of the olfactory epithelium must be performed. However, this area is not accessible today with conventional tools. To go beyond this limitation, we propose to investigate the use a concentric tube robot (CTR). Its synthesis is performed from medical images. It takes into account the stability criteria, inter-subject variability, and is associated to a FTL (Follow-The-Leader) deployment. As the device is mounted on the subject, it has to be compact and lightweight. Thus, a specific deployment sequence simplifies the actuation unit, and an implementation is proposed using multimaterial additive manufacturing. Preliminary evaluations of the FTL deployment capabilities and the key components of the device allowed to validate the approach chosen for the NEMRO project, and its feasibility.","tags":[],"title":"Conception de robots à tubes concentriques et application à l'inspection des cellules olfactives","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Cédric Girerd","Kanty Rabenorosoa","Pierre Renaud"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1509494400,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1509494400,"objectID":"5a86044d89b1c1fa58424c84c3b6efe0","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/girerd17surgetica/","publishdate":"2017-11-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/girerd17surgetica/","section":"publication","summary":"In vivo inspection of the olfactory epithelium could lead to breakthroughs in neurosciences, but it can not be accessed today as it is located in a highly constrained area of the nasal cavity. To remedy this situation, a new concentric tube robot (CTR) geometry is proposed in this paper, designed to reach and perform an optical biopsy of the olfactory epithelium.","tags":[],"title":"Toward a Robotized Inspection of the Olfactory Epithelium","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Cédric Girerd","Kanty Rabenorosoa","Patrick Rougeot","Pierre Renaud"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1504224000,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1504224000,"objectID":"4248d1badb4a618929351743185f4b3e","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/girerd17iros/","publishdate":"2017-09-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/girerd17iros/","section":"publication","summary":"In this paper, we propose to take advantage of concentric tube robots (CTR) properties to design a robotic system for optical biopsies with fiber-based imaging modalities. Follow-the-leader (FTL) deployment, with CTR body following its tip, is being integrated as a design constraint in order to minimize the device invasiveness. A design procedure is proposed and developed in the context of olfactory cell inspection. Stability issues of CTR are considered with theoretical validation of FTL deployment. Finally, an experimental assessment in lab conditions is being conducted that includes the device deployment and the reproduction of scanning task for imaging. The whole surface to be inspected can be accessed, and 20 μm resolution of the CTR tip is observed.","tags":[],"title":"Towards Optical Biopsy of Olfactory Cells using Concentric Tube Robots with Follow-the-Leader Deployment","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Cédric Girerd","Kanty Rabenorosoa","Pierre Renaud"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1501113600,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1501113600,"objectID":"1c36eda0636496244a3c291776f5fcf7","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/girerd16ark/","publishdate":"2017-07-27T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/girerd16ark/","section":"publication","summary":"Concentric tube robots show promising performances for many medical applications. A particularly useful but challenging deployment of these robots, called “follow-the-leader” deployment, consists in the robot following the path traced out by its tip. In this paper, we propose to combine a simple and analytical kinematic approach combined with now possible tube design to offer efficient follow-the-leader behavior. The approach is presented and then assessed with promising performances using a realistic scenario in the context of human nose exploration.","tags":[],"title":"Combining Tube Design and Simple Kinematic Strategy for Follow-the-Leader Deployment of Concentric Tube Robots","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Cédric Girerd","Kanty Rabenorosoa","Pierre Renaud"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1477958400,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1477958400,"objectID":"baf406814e79e9d15c7ba6c0d3deedb4","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/girerd16jjcr/","publishdate":"2016-11-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/girerd16jjcr/","section":"publication","summary":"","tags":[],"title":"Concentric Tube Robots for Inspection of Olfactory Cells","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Cédric Girerd","Kanty Rabenorosoa","Pierre Renaud"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1472688000,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1472688000,"objectID":"0167a55beefe5d8c99f728d6f0513403","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/girerd16cras/","publishdate":"2016-09-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/girerd16cras/","section":"publication","summary":"","tags":[],"title":"Synthesis of a New Concentric Tube Robot for Olfactory Cells Exploration","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Simon Stent","Cédric Girerd","Peter J.G. Long","Roberto Cipolla"],"categories":null,"content":"","date":1433116800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1433116800,"objectID":"4a74548ec9175e3d233b4e1232ac3162","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/stent15isarc/","publishdate":"2015-06-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/stent15isarc/","section":"publication","summary":"We introduce a low-cost robotic system designed to enable the safe, objective and efficient visual inspection of tunnels. The system captures high resolution images and processes them to produce maps of tunnel linings that are suitable for detailed inspection. It is unique in that the total cost of hardware is an order of magnitude less than most existing systems while producing an equivalent or higher quality of output. The device makes use of consumer-grade digital cameras and high-power LEDs in a rotating rig, carried by a lightweight aluminium frame which is designed to reduce vibrations during data capture. It is portable and installable by hand and has a modular design, making it possible to adapt to different types of carriage units, tunnels and sensors. Within the paper, we share insight into features of the device's design, including lessons learned from trials of earlier prototypes and comparisons with alternative systems. Using field data gathered from a 2km utility tunnel, we demonstrate the use of our system as a means of visualising tunnel conditions through image mosaicing, cataloguing tunnel segments using barcode detection and improving the objectivity of visual condition surveys over time by the detection of sub-mm crack growth. We believe that our device is the first to provide comprehensive survey-quality data at such a low cost, making it very attractive as a tool for the improved visual monitoring of tunnels.","tags":[],"title":"A Low-Cost Robotic System for the Efficient Visual Inspection of Tunnels","type":"publication"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"","date":-62135596800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":-62135596800,"objectID":"de44104b7f62bfd8a8a9228e1d8708f0","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/ctr_prototyping_resources/","publishdate":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/ctr_prototyping_resources/","section":"","summary":"","tags":null,"title":"","type":"page"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"\u0026lt;!DOCTYPE html\u0026gt; Tip-growing robots - Proposed features and limitations Tip-growing robots - Proposed features and limitations This web page is a resource on the tip-growing robots that have been proposed to date in the literature. It will be kept up-to-date on a regular basis.\nFor any request, please send an email to cedric.girerd@lirmm.fr.\nPublication types: T: Theory, G: General and applications, S: Steering, sensing and tooltip, A: Actuation design\nCSV to HTML Table by Derek Eder\n","date":-62135596800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":-62135596800,"objectID":"85bfaf8137f1958a231eb5a0137f3bae","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/al_harthy24tro/features_and_limitations/","publishdate":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/al_harthy24tro/features_and_limitations/","section":"publication","summary":"\u003c!DOCTYPE html\u003e Tip-growing robots - Proposed features and limitations Tip-growing robots - Proposed features and limitations This web page is a resource on the tip-growing robots that have been proposed to date in the literature. It will be kept up-to-date on a regular basis.\nFor any request, please send an email to cedric.girerd@lirmm.fr.\nPublication types: T: Theory, G: General and applications, S: Steering, sensing and tooltip, A: Actuation design\n","tags":null,"title":"","type":"publication"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"CSV to HTML Table Display any CSV file as a searchable, filterable, pretty HTML table. Done in 100% JavaScript.\nCheck out the working demo: https://csv-to-html-table.netlify.app/\nUsage 1. Clone this repository (in the command line) git clone git@github.com:derekeder/csv-to-html-table.git cd csv-to-html-table 2. Add your CSV file to the data/ folder 3. In index.html set your options in the CsvToHtmlTable.init() function \u0026lt;script\u0026gt; CsvToHtmlTable.init({ csv_path: \u0026#39;data/Health Clinics in Chicago.csv\u0026#39;, element: \u0026#39;table-container\u0026#39;, allow_download: true, csv_options: {separator: \u0026#39;,\u0026#39;, delimiter: \u0026#39;\u0026#34;\u0026#39;}, datatables_options: {\u0026#34;paging\u0026#34;: false} }); \u0026lt;/script\u0026gt; Available options csv_path Path to your CSV file. element The HTML element to render your table to. Defaults to table-container allow_download if true, shows a link to download the CSV file. Defaults to false csv_options jQuery CSV configuration. Use this if you want to use a custom delimiter or separator in your input file. See their documentation. datatables_options DataTables configuration. See their documentation. custom_formatting New! A list of column indexes and custom functions to format your data (see below) Custom formatting If you want to do custom formatting for one or more column, you can pass in an array of arrays containing the index of the column and a custom function for formatting it. You can pass in multiple formatters and they will be executed in order.\nThe custom functions must take in one parameter (the value in the cell) and return a HTML string:\nExample:\n\u0026lt;script\u0026gt; //my custom function that creates a hyperlink function format_link(link){ if (link) return \u0026#34;\u0026lt;a href=\u0026#39;\u0026#34; + link + \u0026#34;\u0026#39; target=\u0026#39;_blank\u0026#39;\u0026gt;\u0026#34; + link + \u0026#34;\u0026lt;/a\u0026gt;\u0026#34;; else return \u0026#34;\u0026#34;; } //initializing the table CsvToHtmlTable.init({ csv_path: \u0026#39;data/Health Clinics in Chicago.csv\u0026#39;, element: \u0026#39;table-container\u0026#39;, allow_download: true, csv_options: {separator: \u0026#39;,\u0026#39;, delimiter: \u0026#39;\u0026#34;\u0026#39;}, datatables_options: {\u0026#34;paging\u0026#34;: false}, custom_formatting: [[4, format_link]] //execute the function on the 4th column of every row }); \u0026lt;/script\u0026gt; Note that you should take care about HTML escaping to avoid XSS or broken layout. jQuery has a nice function text() which safely escapes HTML from value.\n4. Run it You can run this locally using this handy python command:\npython -m SimpleHTTPServer …or with Python 3:\npython -m http.server navigate to http://localhost:8000/\n5. Deploy it GitHub pages You can host your table on GitHub pages for free! Once you’ve made all your changes and committed them, push everything in the master branch to gh-pages which automatically enables GitHub pages.\ngit push origin master:gh-pages Then navigate to http://your-github-username.github.io/csv-to-html-table/\nRead more on working with GitHub pages projects.\nWeb server This project should work on any web server. Upload this entire project (including all the css, data, fonts and js folders) to a public folder on your server using FTP.\n6. iframe it (optional) Want to embed your nifty table on your website? You can use an iframe. Once you’ve deployed your table (above in step 5) you can link to it in an iframe right in your HTML.\n\u0026lt;iframe style=\u0026#34;border-style: none;\u0026#34; src=\u0026#34;http://derekeder.github.io/csv-to-html-table/\u0026#34; height=\u0026#34;950\u0026#34; width=\u0026#34;600\u0026#34;\u0026gt;\u0026lt;/iframe\u0026gt; Dependencies Bootstrap 4 - Responsive HTML, CSS and Javascript framework jQuery - a fast, small, and feature-rich JavaScript library jQuery CSV - Parse CSV (Comma Separated Values) to Javascript arrays or dictionaries. DataTables - add advanced interaction controls to any HTML table. Common issues/troubleshooting If your table isn’t displaying any data, try the following:\nUse the Chrome developer console or install Firebug for FireFox. This will allow you to debug your javascript. Open your table in the browser and open the javascript console Chrome developer console on a Mac: Option+Command+J Chrome developer console on a PC: Control+Shift+J Firebug in Firefox: Tools =\u0026gt; Web Developer =\u0026gt; Firebug =\u0026gt; Open Firebug) If you do see javascript errors, the error will tell you what line it is failing on. Best to start by going there! Errors / Bugs If something is not behaving intuitively, it is a bug, and should be reported. Report it here: https://github.com/derekeder/csv-to-html-table/issues\nContributors Derek Eder - primary contributor ychaouche - javascript tag fixes Freddy Martinez - localized javascript libraries Sergey Ponomarev - CSV escaped in HTML output djibe - Bootstrap 4 and latest DataTables Note on Patches/Pull Requests Fork the project. Make your feature addition or bug fix. Send a pull request. Bonus points for topic branches. Copyright Copyright (c) 2018 Derek Eder. Released under the MIT License.\n","date":-62135596800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":-62135596800,"objectID":"5e4bfe8af1e3e26c9f740a75ecd9ff04","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/al_harthy24tro/readme/","publishdate":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/al_harthy24tro/readme/","section":"publication","summary":"CSV to HTML Table Display any CSV file as a searchable, filterable, pretty HTML table. Done in 100% JavaScript.\nCheck out the working demo: https://csv-to-html-table.netlify.app/\n","tags":null,"title":"","type":"publication"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"\u0026lt;!DOCTYPE html\u0026gt; Tip-growing robots - Specifications Tip-growing robots - Specifications This web page is a resource on the tip-growing robots that have been proposed to date in the literature. It will be kept up-to-date on a regular basis.\nFor any request, please send an email to cedric.girerd@lirmm.fr.\nCSV to HTML Table by Derek Eder\n","date":-62135596800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":-62135596800,"objectID":"5f90ca5101d5ba251294510ff8c033e9","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/publication/al_harthy24tro/specifications/","publishdate":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/publication/al_harthy24tro/specifications/","section":"publication","summary":"\u003c!DOCTYPE html\u003e Tip-growing robots - Specifications Tip-growing robots - Specifications This web page is a resource on the tip-growing robots that have been proposed to date in the literature. It will be kept up-to-date on a regular basis.\nFor any request, please send an email to cedric.girerd@lirmm.fr.\n","tags":null,"title":"","type":"publication"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"","date":-62135596800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":-62135596800,"objectID":"3f2d183769db587f5c0641511af38cc2","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/tip_growing_robots/","publishdate":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/tip_growing_robots/","section":"","summary":"","tags":null,"title":"","type":"page"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"Concentric tube robots have a large number of design variables, which is often reduced in order for design optimization problems to be tractable by gradient-free approaches. However, this reduces the design space of the robots, which can lead to sub-optimal results. To overcome those limitations, we propose a design optimization problem formulation compatible with grandient-based methods, allowing us to explore a larger design space.\n","date":-62135596800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":-62135596800,"objectID":"441709379a4a3433de4967d409200493","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/research/ctr_design_optimization/","publishdate":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/research/ctr_design_optimization/","section":"research","summary":"Concentric tube robots have a large number of design variables, which is often reduced in order for design optimization problems to be tractable by gradient-free approaches. However, this reduces the design space of the robots, which can lead to sub-optimal results. To overcome those limitations, we propose a design optimization problem formulation compatible with grandient-based methods, allowing us to explore a larger design space.\n","tags":["Continuum Robots","Concentric Tube Robots"],"title":"Concentric Tube Robot Design Optimization","type":"project"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"The particular architecture of concentric tube robots leads to lateral motions of their bodis while their tips are controlled. Such behavior can be undesired for deployment in constrained areas. In order to overcome this challenge, we worked on the follow-the-leader deployment of those robots, during which the robot body follows the path taken by its tip.\n","date":-62135596800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":-62135596800,"objectID":"ff75295ea2280bc339accc3bd664bd75","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/research/ftl_deployment_of_ctr/","publishdate":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/research/ftl_deployment_of_ctr/","section":"research","summary":"The particular architecture of concentric tube robots leads to lateral motions of their bodis while their tips are controlled. Such behavior can be undesired for deployment in constrained areas. In order to overcome this challenge, we worked on the follow-the-leader deployment of those robots, during which the robot body follows the path taken by its tip.\n","tags":["Continuum Robots","Concentric Tube Robots","Follow-the-Leader Deployment"],"title":"Follow-the-Leader Deployment of Concentric Tube Robots","type":"project"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"The standard-of-care involves a range of affordable, manual, hand-held rigid tools, with limited dexterity. In contrast, roboticized tools with increased accessibility and dexterity are usually larger, heavier, grounded devices that are teleoperated, posing a new set of challenges. To bridge the gap between those classes of devices, we propose a hand-held concentric tube robot that has the dexterity and precision of large roboticized devices, while maintaining the footprint of a traditional hand-held tool.\n","date":-62135596800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":-62135596800,"objectID":"8075e1176665a59cbcb4f017faa59999","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/research/hand_held_and_portable_cr/","publishdate":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/research/hand_held_and_portable_cr/","section":"research","summary":"The standard-of-care involves a range of affordable, manual, hand-held rigid tools, with limited dexterity. In contrast, roboticized tools with increased accessibility and dexterity are usually larger, heavier, grounded devices that are teleoperated, posing a new set of challenges. To bridge the gap between those classes of devices, we propose a hand-held concentric tube robot that has the dexterity and precision of large roboticized devices, while maintaining the footprint of a traditional hand-held tool.\n","tags":["Continuum Robots","Concentric Tube Robots"],"title":"Hand-Held and Portable Continuum Robots","type":"project"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"A new subclass of soft robot, known as tip-extending or “vine” robots, consists of long inflatable devices that move through the environment by extending from the tip. A key requirement for many applications of these robots is a working channel - a hollow tube through the core of the robot for passing tools, sensors, fluids, etc. While working channels have been proposed in a few vine robots, it remains an open challenge to create miniaturized vine robots (diameter \u0026lt; 1 cm) with working channels that enable continuous access through the core. In this paper, we analyze the growth models of current vine robot designs and show that the working channel greatly increases required pressure to grow at small scales due to internal friction. Based on this insight, we propose the concept of storing scrunched material at the tip of the vine robot to circumvent this frictional force. We validate our models and demonstrate this concept via prototypes down to diameters of 2.3 mm. Overall, this work enables the creation of miniaturized vine robots with working channels, which significantly enhances their practicality and potential for impact in applications such as minimally invasive surgery.\n","date":-62135596800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":-62135596800,"objectID":"f0f2a6cedd1fc0c8a9c6f8e0516bf6b5","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/research/vine_growing_robots/","publishdate":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/research/vine_growing_robots/","section":"research","summary":"A new subclass of soft robot, known as tip-extending or “vine” robots, consists of long inflatable devices that move through the environment by extending from the tip. A key requirement for many applications of these robots is a working channel - a hollow tube through the core of the robot for passing tools, sensors, fluids, etc. While working channels have been proposed in a few vine robots, it remains an open challenge to create miniaturized vine robots (diameter \u003c 1 cm) with working channels that enable continuous access through the core. In this paper, we analyze the growth models of current vine robot designs and show that the working channel greatly increases required pressure to grow at small scales due to internal friction. Based on this insight, we propose the concept of storing scrunched material at the tip of the vine robot to circumvent this frictional force. We validate our models and demonstrate this concept via prototypes down to diameters of 2.3 mm. Overall, this work enables the creation of miniaturized vine robots with working channels, which significantly enhances their practicality and potential for impact in applications such as minimally invasive surgery.\n","tags":["Vine Growing Robots","Soft Robots"],"title":"Vine Growing Robots","type":"project"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"The planning of continuum robots is generally based on the patient’s anatomy using pre-operative images. However, their practical deployment can be challenging. Open-loop approaches are prone to errors due to modeling accuracy or physiological motions of the patient during the procedure, and human-in-the-loop approaches require specific skills from the surgeon. To overcome those limits, we propose an automatic tip-steering approach for concentric tube robots based on visual SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping).\n","date":-62135596800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":-62135596800,"objectID":"778a9e60758747e0558d49293e63965f","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/research/slam_based_deployment/","publishdate":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/research/slam_based_deployment/","section":"research","summary":"The planning of continuum robots is generally based on the patient’s anatomy using pre-operative images. However, their practical deployment can be challenging. Open-loop approaches are prone to errors due to modeling accuracy or physiological motions of the patient during the procedure, and human-in-the-loop approaches require specific skills from the surgeon. To overcome those limits, we propose an automatic tip-steering approach for concentric tube robots based on visual SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping).\n","tags":["Continuum Robots","Concentric Tube Robots","Follow-the-Leader Deployment","SLAM-Based Deployment"],"title":"Visual SLAM-Based Deployment","type":"project"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"The ability to sense forces is a critical component for ensuring that robots can safely interact with their environment. Yet there are numerous situations, in particular for medical applications, where environmental and sensor density requirements can pose challenges to sensor design. To overcome those limitations, we proposed new wireless force sensors.\n","date":-62135596800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":-62135596800,"objectID":"f89a76cb5f3abab6200c0bd56dd4781d","permalink":"http://localhost:1313/research/wireless_sensors/","publishdate":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/research/wireless_sensors/","section":"research","summary":"The ability to sense forces is a critical component for ensuring that robots can safely interact with their environment. Yet there are numerous situations, in particular for medical applications, where environmental and sensor density requirements can pose challenges to sensor design. To overcome those limitations, we proposed new wireless force sensors.\n","tags":["Continuum Robots","Wireless Sensors","Soft Robots"],"title":"Wireless Sensors","type":"project"}]