Developing Bio-Inspired Medical Instruments - Electrical and Computer Engineering - College of Engineering - Carnegie Mellon University
Summary
The team is using a bio-inspired approach, synthesizing data from distributed sensors to imbue flexible medical instruments such as catheters, endoscopes, and electrodes with senses of tactility and proprioception that surpass human abilities. Their initial focus is on cochlear implantation to address hearing loss.The effort will be co-led by Jay Reddy, co-founder and CEO of Advanced Optronics and CMU ECE alum; Maysam Chamanzar, co-founder of Advanced Optronics and the Dr. William D. and Nancy W. Strecker Career Development Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University; Abraham Jacob, board-certified neurotologist and cochlear implant surgeon at the Center for Neurosciences; and Wenzhen Yuan, assistant professor in computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.A unique design feature of our approach is to combine microfabricated sensor arrays with machine learning, enabling us to recognize different surgical scenarios and complement the surgeons experience, said Reddy. The teams micro-scale sensors enable revolutionary data collection without increasing the size or complexity of existing surgical devices or modifying the surgeons workflow. The additional real-time tactile information dramatically augments surgeons subjective abilities to help them navigate and manipulate medical devices in delicate anatomy. Advanced Optronics micro-scale sensors enable real-time AI guidance for surgeons to increase their success rates and reduce expensive complications in delicate procedures, starting with cochlear implantation.