NSF grant to help engineers accelerate development of medical capsule robots
The four-year project – Cyber-Physical Systems: Integrated Modeling, Analysis and Synthesis of Miniature Medical Devices – involves creating cyber-physical design and simulation platforms to capture the computational and physical components of tiny devices designed to work inside the human body. 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.
Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are engineered systems that are built from and depend upon the synergy of computational and physical components. Examples of the many CPS applications include the smart electric grid, smart buildings, smart medical technologies, next-generation air traffic management and advanced manufacturing.
The team is led by Pietro Valdastri, the principal investigator and assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and includes Akos Ledeczi, associate professor of electrical engineering and senior research scientist; Peter Volgyesi, research scientist, electrical engineering; and Robert Webster, assistant professor of mechanical engineering.
For full story details please see: http://engineering.vanderbilt.edu/news/2012/nsf-grant-to-help-engineers-accelerate-development-of-medical-capsule-robots/