2020 Winners

LaparoVision: An In Vivo Laparoscopic Wiper Mechanism

Jacob Sheffield, Amanda Lytle and Jake Hunter, Brigham Young University

(1st Place Winner)

Over the past hundred years, surgeons have performed millions of laparoscopic surgeries on humans. During most of these laparoscopic surgeries, the laparoscope must be removed several times from the patient's body for the lens to be cleaned. This common practice is not only costly in terms of time and money but can be dangerous to the patient. Several scientists, doctors, and entrepreneurs have tried to develop solutions to this problem; however, relatively few products are on the market while even fewer are being used by surgeons today. The purpose of this project is to develop and present the benefits of a fully compliant, laparoscopic lens cleaner. Our design will be a minimal, disposable wiper mechanism that can be easily mounted to the end of a laparoscope. With simple actuation from without the body, our mechanism will clear blood, debris, and other splatter from the laparoscope lens in vivo. We believe that this small, injection-molded compliant wiper addition will save hospitals’ money, surgeons’ time, and patients’ bodies.

A Novel Design for a Cable-Driven Parallel Robot with Full-Circle End-Effector Rotations

Marceau Métillon, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

(2nd Place Winner)

This project addresses the design and manufacturing of a Cable-Driven Parallel Robot with full-circle end-effector rotations. The motivation of this project is to design a Cable-Driven Parallel Robot that can carry a camera for applications such as surveillance, inspection or control. For such applications, it is important that the robot covers large workspaces both in translation and in rotation. In particular, we wish to achieve a large rotational workspace by actuating the robot using cable-loops. A top plate and a parallel spherical wrist compose the moving platform of the robot. The parallel spherical wrist concept relies on the Atlas1 platform principle. A end-effector is linked to the base of the wrist using a spherical joint. Three omniwheels are linked to the wrist base with revolute joints. The end-effector is a sphere actuated by the rotation of the omni-wheels. Cable loops remotely drive the end-effector in an overall 9-dof motion. During this project, a complete mechanical embodiment of the concept was realized allowing its experimental validation. Efforts were made to simplify the design in order to facilitate the manufacturing of a prototype. Finally the prototype was manufactured and assembled using the laboratory mechanical facilities and first motions were performed.

Tangent Four-Point Radiation: Liquid-Activated Doubly-Curved Shaping of Layered Flexible Membranes

Hunter Pruett, Brigham Young University

(3rd Place Winner)

The mechanism is a laminate consisting of two water-permeable relatively inextensible membranes sandwiching a layer of superabsorbent polymer (SAP). When said laminate comes in contact with water, the laminate inflates per expansion of the SAP, creating a pillowing or tube-like shape, depending on the boundary connecting the membrane laminae. By imposing intermediate boundaries in the laminate, the laminate can achieve a number of interesting and useful shapes. Concentric boundaries result in an expansion that is analogous to the circular origami hypar. Concentric boundaries can be arranged such that the resulting expansion is analogous to Salkowski curves. The strategic arrangement and union of such Salkowski curves can produce an expansion that unifies two partial circular hypar shapes with a trough. Such an arrangement was used to create a diaper pad that reduces sag and improves shape conformance in diapers.

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