In this project, we have developed a flexible single-port endoscope with a diameter of 6.9 mm. The flexible robot is designed by laser micromachining nitinol and is actuated using tendons. The designed endoscope houses a camera and two flexible continuum joints that can be used to perform neurosurgery. More details can be found here.

In this project, we have developed a single-axis force sensor that can sense forces in milli-Newton force range. The designed sensor has piezoresistors etched on a thin diaphragm. The sensor was utilized to sense differences in tissue stiffness between normal and tumor brain tissue samples. More details on this work are published in this paper - Link. 

A controller helps to achieve the desired response in a process. Biological processes require proper control mechanisms to take place effectively. Most of the chemical pathways in the body, work through a closed-loop feedback control mechanism. A common control process that occurs in a living cell is for the activation of a protein by the Covalent Modification Cycle that produces the required amount of activated protein when driven at different rates in a cell-signaling cycle. It has been seen that one of the possible ways to design a biological controller is by using DNA Strand Displacement Reactions modeled via Chemical Reaction Networks. In this project, a Non-Smooth Proportional Integral Controller using mathematical modeling and Chemical Reaction Networks for a Biological System is simulated. Report