DEVELOPMENT OF A MANIPULATOR FOR SOFT ROBOT BASED INTUBATION AID TOOL

• Main Author: Aldian Salman, Muhammad
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Teknik (Rekayasa, enjinering dan kegiatan berkaitan)
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/81000
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Intubation is a critical procedure in maintaining airway patency during anesthesia or respiratory distress. Efficiency in performing intubation procedures is a very important aspect concerning failure in returning patency of the airway within the short-given period, which could cause life-threatening complications. Existing tools like introducers or "bougies" assist in navigating the endotracheal tube (ETT) into the laryngeal opening, yet their passive nature and stiffness of the device may compromise success rates and pose a risk of injury. The emergence of a modern design bougie that utilized an actively controlled manipulator to replace the passive structure on the distal tip of a bougie is proven to increase the procedure’s efficiency, which in this case, a soft robot has its advantages due to its simple construction, movement ability, and compliant characteristic it possesses. Looking at this potential, a research team from ITB has proposed a design of a soft continuum pneumatic manipulator for medical applications. Derived from the design mentioned earlier, this study is focused on developing a soft robot design specifically for tracheal intubation application. The development is based on simulation with validation experiment was also performed to investigate methods for increasing the stiffness of the manipulator, using SIMULIA Abaqus. This study demonstrates consistent manufacturing quality of the actuators, evidenced by a satisfactory cross-section and a close alignment between simulation and experimental results for bending angle (RMS error of 8.2°). Preliminary results indicate a statistically significant effect from multi-chamber pressurization in improving the soft robot manipulator's stiffness within the same bending angle as single-chamber pressurization. However, future investigation is required to increase the quality of the manufacturing result further and study the influence of modeling on simulation on the performance and stiffness of the manipulator.