At the following link you can see the video of the workshop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
The medical and surgical robotics market is advancing at a rapid pace. A large number of companies with the aim to create new mechatronic devices that can operate on people, conduct diagnostics inside the body of humans and interact with humans in different ways, for example during rehabilitation and as assistive devices, are emerging. Most of today’s developments in the field aiming for commercialization are based on traditional, rigid component robots. However, there are notable soft robotics solution emerging from the robotics research labs.
With the EU STIFF-FLOP arguably having been the first large-scale project to propose the soft robotics concept for applications in minimally invasive surgery, this workshop aims to take stock and to understand what has happened in the field since 2015 when STIFF-FLOP came to an end. The workshop will provide an overview of the achievements of STIFF-FLOP, explore where the project inspired work in soft surgical robotics and what hurdles remain to further advance soft robotics solutions for medical applications.
The workshop aims to bring together medical experts active in the field of minimally invasive interventions, medical devices manufacturers and roboticists creating and studying soft and stiffness controllable robot devices. We will explore the synergies that will arise from robotic surgeons cooperating with such modern robots to conduct advanced surgical interventions previously not possible.
This RoboSoft 2021 workshop will provide a review of current technology used in robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery and explore the current paradigm shift from traditionally rigid surgical tools to robotic systems that are highly redundant, soft and capable of changing their structural stiffness to adapt to surgical needs.
