| NSF Org: |
CNS Division Of Computer and Network Systems |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | September 7, 2012 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | May 27, 2016 |
| Award Number: | 1239355 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Sylvia Spengler
sspengle@nsf.gov (703)292-7347 CNS Division Of Computer and Network Systems CSE Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering |
| Start Date: | December 1, 2012 |
| End Date: | November 30, 2017 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $1,000,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $1,068,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2014 = $16,000.00 FY 2015 = $26,000.00 FY 2016 = $26,000.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
110 21ST AVE S NASHVILLE TN US 37203-2416 (615)322-2631 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
TN US 37235-0002 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
Special Projects - CNS, CPS-Cyber-Physical Systems |
| Primary Program Source: |
01001415DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001516DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001617DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.070 |
ABSTRACT
The objective of this project is to create a focused cyber-physical design environment to accelerate the development of miniature medical devices in general and swallowable systems in particular. The project develops new models and tools including a web-based integrated simulation environment,capturing the interacting dynamics of the computational and physical components of devices designed to work inside the human body, to enable wider design space exploration, and, ultimately, to lower the barriers which have thus far impeded system engineering of miniature medical devices. Currently, a few select individuals with deep domain expertise create these systems. The goal is to open this field to a wider community and at the same time create better designs through advanced tool support. The project defines a component model and corresponding domain-specific modeling language to provide a common framework for design capture, design space exploration, analysis and automated synthesis of all hardware and software artifacts. The project also develops a rich and extensible component and design template library that designers can reuse. The online design environment will provide early feedback and hence, it will lower the cost of experimentation with alternatives. The potential benefit is not just incremental (in time and cost), but can lead to novel ideas by mitigating the risk of trying unconventional solutions.
Trends in consumer electronics such as miniaturization, low power operation, and wireless technologies have enabled the design of miniature devices that hold the potential to revolutionize medicine. Transformational societal public health benefits (e.g., early diagnosis of colorectal cancer or prevention of heart failure) are possible through less invasive and more accurate diagnostic and interventional devices. By eliminating large incisions in favor of natural orifices or small ports, these medical devices can increase diagnostic screening effectiveness and reduce pain and recovery time. Furthermore, if successful, the proposed scientific approach can be extended to any other application, wherever size, power efficiency, and high confidence are stringent requirements. The educational plan of the project is centered on the web-based design environment that will also contain an interface for high school students to experiment with medical cyber-physical devices in a virtual environment. Students will be able to build medical devices from a library of components, program them using an intuitive visual programming language and operate them in various simulated environments. A Summer Camp organized in the framework of this project will enhance students learning experience with real hands-on experimentation in a lab.
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Transformational societal public health benefits are possible through less invasive and more accurate diagnostic and interventional approaches enabled by miniature medical devices. By eliminating large incisions in favor of natural orifices or small ports, these medical capsule robots can increase diagnostic screening effectiveness and reduce pain and recovery time. The novel applied technologies developed in this project have the potential to increase the number of people undergoing gastric and colorectal cancer screening and improve the outcomes of pediatric surgery.
The project has created a focused cyber-physical design environment to accelerate the development of miniature medical devices in general and swallowable systems in particular. The web-based integrated design environment enables rapid development and wider design space exploration, and it lowers the barriers which have thus far impeded system engineering of miniature medical devices. The tool comes with a rich library of hardware modules and software components that allows user to create designs rapidly in a modular fashion. Hence, the online design environment lowers the cost of experimentation with alternatives. The benefit is not just incremental (in time and cost), but can lead to novel ideas by mitigating the risk of trying unconventional solutions.
The project has made significant contributions to specific device designs as well. Typically, screening for gastric and esophageal cancer is completed using a flexible endoscope. However, proper sterilization of the device is difficult. Improper reprocessing of endoscopic equipment can lead to further spread of harmful bacteria and diseases in areas already plagued by illness. The swimming capsule endoscopes we have designed could provide a more sanitary and lower cost method for upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract cancer screening due to their disposability.
There is the clinical need to target and treat specific pathologies, such as Crohn’s disease, obscure gastrointestinal bleeding, and small intestinal tumors. Wireless controllable drug delivery capsules would enable the release of a specific amount of a given drug at an exact place in the GI tract. We have explored several design variations for wireless drug delivery mechanisms.
Magnetic coupling is one of the few physical phenomena capable of transmitting motion across a physical barrier. In gastrointestinal endoscopy, remote magnetic manipulation has the potential to make screening less invasive and more acceptable, thus saving lives by early diagnoses and treatment. We have developed groundbreaking results in precise magnetic localization of the capsule deep within the human body, as well as fast and accurate control algorithms for magnetically actuated capsule endoscopes.
With the help of high school teachers and undergraduate summer interns, the project has developed a modular robot kit intended to engage youngsters more in STEM education. The hardware platform allows students to create a large variety of robots in a snap-and-play fashion. The intuitive web-based visual programming environment then allows them to program their creations with ease.
Last Modified: 03/19/2018
Modified by: Akos Ledeczi
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