Electrolytic
Silicone Bourdon Tube Actuator
The Electrolytically Actuated Silicone Bourdon Tube was developed as part of a pilot study on actuation strategies for very small robots. The study was carried out at the CRIM laboratory at SSSA, Italy, and was part of a larger ongoing effort at CRIM to create Assemblable Reconfigurable Endoluminal Surgical Robots (ARES). Electrolysis was found to be a surprisingly low-power actuation strategy if speed is not essential. In the GI tract, the hydrogen and oxygen produced can be safely vented at the end of an actuator cycle.
Conference Publications:
- N. Ng Pak, R. J. Webster III, A. Menciassi, and P. Dario. Electrolytic Silicone Bourdon Tube Microactuator for Reconfigurable Surgical Robots. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 3371-3376, 2007.