Robotics & Automation

Get an overview of the global medical robots market. Visit this Medical Design Briefs Robotics and Automation Hub to receive news, expert advice, and essential information – from the history of medical robots to the technologies of tomorrow.

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Products: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A line of adjustable mounting shaft collars that can be customized for securing sprockets, pulleys, lever arms, and other drive components is available from Stafford Manufacturing Corp. (Wilmington, MA)....
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Mission Accomplished: Medical
According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, somewhere between 236,000 to 327,000 people in the US are living with serious spinal cord injuries. About 155,000 have...
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Applications: Medical
ToughWare Prosthetics, an engineering and design group dedicated to developing innovative new assistive technologies, helps satisfy the global need for prosthetic devices that are...
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News: Medical
Disposable MEMS Market Growing, Study Says
The market for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) used as pressure sensors in medical electronics is likely to grow by 7 percent this year, aided by the use of disposable devices as well as respiratory monitoring, according to iSuppli, El Segundo, CA, a global leader in technology value chain research...
Applications: Materials
When engineers at a Swiss medical device company began designing an implantable low-flow pump to treat the condition known as ascites, or peritoneal cavity fluid, they knew they were on the...
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Features: Electronics & Computers
Virtual Walking Stick for the Visually Impaired Jonathan Tolstedt and Maxwell Tolstedt Fargo, ND Current navigational aids for the visually impaired include global positioning systems (GPS) and other devices using...
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Features: Medical
SwipeSense Yuri Malina and Mert Iseri Evanston, Illinois According to the Centers for Disease Control, the best way to prevent the two million annual cases of hospital-acquired infections is by increasing hand hygiene among...
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Features: Medical
The 10th annual “Create the Future” Design Contest, attracted more than 950 innovative product ideas from engineers and students in 65 countries. The Medical category itself received 92 outstanding entries from...
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INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control
Developing Tiny Robot to Remove Brain Tumors
A team of scientists from the University of Maryland, College Park, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, were awarded a $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue their work on developing a small robot that may someday air neurosurgeons in removing difficult-to-reach brain...
INSIDER: Medical
Fiberoptic Laryngoscopy Simulation App
A study presented by Raymond Glassenberg, MD, from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, during the ANESTHESIOLOGY 2012 annual meeting demonstrated that an iPhone application called iLarynx™ he created was extremely effective at simulating a fiberoptic bronchoscopy. When students...
INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control
Integrating Microprecision into Surgical Tools
For a skilled surgeon performing general surgery, tiny hand tremors are usually not a serious risk for patients. But what if the surgeon is operating inside the human eye or repairing microscopic nerve fibers? Scientists from the Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering and Johns Hopkins...
INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control
Columbus Discovers Transoral Robotic Surgery Safer
Robotic surgery though the mouth is a safe, effective way to remove tumors of the throat and voice box, according to a study published in in the journal, Head and Neck, by surgeons at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbus, OH, Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J....
Features: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The need to minimize healthcare costs is creating greater demand for medical electronics equipment that, among other things, improves and expands patient...
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Features: Imaging
Authors, filmmakers, and television programs have given us visions of robots serving humanity for most of the past 100 years. Some of the most iconic fictional ones include the...
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INSIDER: Medical
Real-Time MRI Catheterization Shows Promise
An experimental MRI method may be safer and just as swift as standard X-ray procedures in guiding surgical interventions in the heart. The finding, from a small clinical study by scientists at NIH’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), suggests that MRI might one day offer a radiation-free...
INSIDER: Medical
Smart Sutures Can Detect Infections
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has created coated sutures with sensors that could monitor wounds and speed up healing. The electronic sutures, which contain ultra-thin silicon sensors integrated on polymer or silk strips, can be threaded through needles and, in animal tests,...
Features: Medical
Noxilizer has developed a room temperature sterilization process for medical devices that is based on nitrogen dioxide (NO2) gas. Currently, industrial...
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INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control
Students Create New Suturing Device
To head off possible postoperative problems, undergraduate biomedical engineering students at Johns Hopkins University have invented a disposable suturing tool. Their invention, called FastStitch, guides the placement of stitches and guards against accidental puncturing of internal organs after abdominal...
News: Medical
Asia Developing Device Regulations
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a regional economic organization consisting of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam is developing a combined regulatory system for medical devices to cover all member countries. The ASEAN Medical...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Clippard Instrument Laboratory (Cincinnati, OH) has introduced the JPC Series of check valves, which works like a standard check valve, but can be operated with an air pilot signal providing for “free flow” in...
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Products: Medical
The igubal® K-Series rod end bearings from igus (East Providence, RI) are now offered in a clip version with different ball materials. The new clip-in feature makes the dimensionally interchangeable rod ends more versatile....
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Products: Medical
Sensirion (Westlake Village, CA) has launched the digital SFM3000 mass flow meter for high-volume applications in medical devices, process automation, and burner control. The flow channel is designed to achieve a very low...
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Products: Medical
Qosina (Edgewood, NY) has introduced the one-handed hemostasis valve Y connector that allows independent manipulation of multiple guidewires. The one hand control lever action allows for lock and release with light...
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Products: Medical
The VSO® MI, a miniature proportional valve from the Precision Fluidics Division of Parker Hannifin (Hollis, NH), helps provide medical equipment manufacturers repeatable pneumatic control across various media...
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INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control
Creating Elastic Conductors Using Silver Nanowires
Scientists at North Carolina State University have developed highly conductive and elastic conductors made from silver nanoscale wires that may be used to develop stretchable electronic devices. Stretchable circuitry has many potential uses in the medical field, such as providing an electronic...
Products: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Iwaki America (Holliston, MA) has expanded its MXM chemical process magnetic drive pump line. The MXM series is a compact chemical process pump line with flows to 165 gpm and heads to 146 ft. Capable of handling...
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Mission Accomplished: Manufacturing & Prototyping
An Albuquerque physician teamed with a Sandia National Laboratories engineer to improve the design of doctors' trauma shears so emergency personnel can get to the injuries they...
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Features: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Application development for medical devices requires knowledge of material properties to support function, chemical compatibility with sanitizing cleaners and sterilization methods, as...
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Features: Design
Today, powered surgical hand tools are used in almost all surgical specialties: ENT, Orthopedics, Neurology, Eye, and Plastics. Initially pneumatic powered, surgical...
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Ask the Expert

John Chandler on Achieving Quality Motion Control
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FAULHABER MICROMO brings together the highest quality motion technologies and value-added services, together with global engineering, sourcing, and manufacturing, to deliver top quality micro motion solutions. With 34 years’ experience, John Chandler injects a key engineering perspective into all new projects and enjoys working closely with OEM customers to bring exciting new technologies to market.

Inside Story

Inside Story: Trends in Packaging and Sterilization
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Eurofins Medical Device Testing (MDT) provides a full scope of testing services. In this interview, Eurofins’ experts, Sunny Modi, PhD, Director of Package Testing; and Elizabeth Sydnor, Director of Microbiology; answer common questions on medical device packaging and sterilization.

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