Title :
An obstetric forceps contouring the head surface to improve gripping capability in delivery assistance
Author :
Chino, Masaki ; Nakajima, Yoshikazu ; Bekku, Akira ; Tsuda, Hiroyuki ; Kotani, Tomomi ; Kikkawa, Fumitaka
Author_Institution :
Grad. Sch. of Eng., Univ. of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Abstract :
The requirement of safe child delivery is increasing in developed countries in these decades. We have developed an obstetric forceps contouring the infant´s head surface with stiffness-controlled pads. The stiffness of the pad is controlled by using air pressure regulation based on jamming transition. The proposed forceps has two soft material pads facing to the infant´s head. The proposed forceps is first thin to get safely inserted into the delivery cavity. The granular tetrapod particles are then injected into the pads to contour the infant´s head surface. By vacuuming the inside air of the pads, the particles interlock each other and the pads move onto the solid-like phase. In the experiments, the proposed method worked effectively to decrease the pressure onto the infant´s head during delivery assistance and consequently made the operation safer.
Keywords :
grippers; medical robotics; obstetrics; air pressure regulation; delivery assistance; granular tetrapod particles; gripping capability; head surface; infant head surface; jamming transition; obstetric forceps contour; particle interlock; safe child delivery; soft material pads; stiffness controlled pad; Discharges (electric); Ducts; Force; Grasping; Head; Jamming; Shape;
Conference_Titel :
Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (2014 5th IEEE RAS & EMBS International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Sao Paulo
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4799-3126-2
DOI :
10.1109/BIOROB.2014.6913782