Robotics & Automation

An adhesive technology helps to bond human tissue in wet or moist conditions. The chemistry is based on the environmentally-friendly adhesive qualities of mussels and other shellfish.

A group of researchers from Italy's Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies created a robotic arm that bends, stretches, and squeezes through cluttered environments. Inspired by the eight arms of an octopus, the device allows surgeons to easily access remote, confined regions of the body and, once there,...

University of Washington engineers hacked a teleoperated surgical robot to test how easily a malicious attack could hijack remotely controlled operations. Incorporating security measures will be critical to the safe adoption and use of the robotic technology.

Using a compact synchrotron source, researchers at the Technische Universität München (TUM) have developed a technology that measures X-ray absorption, phase shifts, and radiation scattering. The technology will help doctors and scientists distinguish between healthy tissue and tumors.

Vanderbilt University researchers have created magnetically-driven laparoscopic instruments.

A University of Illinois research team developed a new method of soldering gaps in atomically small wires. The more flexible transistor technology, carbon nanotube wires, shows promise in replacing silicon devices.

A new potential manufacturing approach from Purdue University researchers harnesses inkjet printing to create devices made of liquid alloys. The resulting stretchable electronics are compatible with soft machines, such as robots that must squeeze through small spaces, or wearable electronics.

Using MRI, Johns Hopkins researchers developed a cancer detection method that does not rely on injected contrast dyes. The technique noninvasively finds telltale sugar molecules shed by the outer membranes of cancerous cells.

Harvard researchers have demonstrated a repellent surface technology that can be used with medical materials to prevent infections caused by biofilms.

According to a recent study by the University of Georgia College of Family and Consumer Sciences, bioplastics made from protein sources have shown significant antibacterial properties. The materials could be used in medical applications, such as wound healing dressings, sutures, catheter tubes, and...

The Desyre project couples a reconfigurable substrate with runtime-system software support in such a manner that the medical system-on-a-chip can adapt on demand to various types and densities of faults, system constraints, and application requirements.

Scientists at the Texas Heart Institute are working to create a permanent artificial heart.

A Seoul National University professor developed a synthetic technology that reproduces the sense of touching real human skin. The artificial skin senses pressure, temperature, strain, and humidity. The soft material is also embedded with self-heating elements.

Mo Rastgaar, a Michigan Technological University mechanical engineer, and his team have developed a robotic ankle that "sees" where it is going.

A “heart-on-a-chip,” built by UC Berkeley bioengineers, houses human heart tissue derived from adult stem cells. The system could one day replace animal models for drug safety screening.

Surgeons at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles say that three-dimensional printing technology can make surgery safer for children with congenital heart disease, and reduce the duration and number of invasive procedures required. Richard Kim, MD, a cardiac surgeon recently used a 3D printed...

A new type of bacteria-repelling nanoscale surface holds promise for medical applications.

To get a better idea of the importance of New England Catheter’s capabilities for medical device customers, Medical Design Briefs spoke with Mike Boivin, manufacturing manager at New England Catheter.

A*STAR Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology researchers have developed a one-step coating that blocks protein growth and kills surface-bound bacteria on silicone medical devices such as catheters.

A Ruhr-University Bochum researcher has developed a plasma sterilizer that is specifically suited for ridding medical instruments of germs efficiently, without damaging the material.

Researchers from the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center have developed a technique to directly measure oxygen in deep-sited tumors.