# Topics > Medical robotics and AI > Robotic surgery, computer-assisted surgery >  STIFF-FLOP, stiffness controllable flexible and learnable manipulator for surgical operations, Seventh Framework Programme, Europe

## Airicist

youtube.com/STIFFFLOP

facebook.com/stiff.flop

twitter.com/STIFF_FLOP

Professor Kaspar Althoefer

Tommaso Ranzani

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## Airicist

STIFF FLOP Demonstration of a reflex controller

Published on Nov 2, 2014




> The STIFF-FLOP consortium demonstrated a new soft, stiffness-controllable manipulator for Minimally Invasive Surgery. We integrated two 3 DoF F/T sensors, 3 Aurora pose sensors, an cauterisation tool at the tip, and granular jamming into a silicone-based structure. The hardware is integrated via RoNeX into a ROS System Map. In this video, we demonstrate the reflex control

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## Airicist

Robotic arm inspired by octopus

Published on May 14, 2015




> A robotic arm that can bend, stretch and squeeze through cluttered environments has been inspired by the arms of the octopus. The device could be used for surgical operations, enabling surgeons to access remote, confined regions of the body and manipulate soft organs without damaging them.

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## Airicist

Article "Robotic tentacle targets keyhole surgery"

by Jonathan Webb
May 14, 2015

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## Airicist

A bioinspired soft manipulator for minimally invasive surgery

Published on Apr 25, 2016




> This paper introduces a novel, bioinspired manipulator for minimally invasive surgery (MIS). The manipulator is entirely composed of soft materials, and it has been designed to provide similar motion capabilities as the octopus's arm in order to reach the surgical target while exploiting its whole length to actively interact with the biological structures. The manipulator is composed of two identical modules (each of them can be controlled independently) with multi-directional bending and stiffening capabilities, like an octopus arm. In the authors' previous works, the design of the single module has been addressed. Here a two-module manipulator is presented, with the final aim of demonstrating the enhanced capabilities that such a structure can have in comparison with rigid surgical tools currently employed in MIS. The performances in terms of workspace, stiffening capabilities, and generated forces are characterized through experimental tests. The combination of stiffening capabilities and manipulation tasks is also addressed to confirm the manipulator potential employment in a real surgical scenario.

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## Airicist

A soft modular manipulator for minimally invasive surgery

Published on Apr 25, 2016




> his paper presents the concept design of a modular soft manipulator for minimally invasive surgery. Unlike traditional surgical manipulators based on metallic steerable needles, tendon-driven mechanisms, or articulated motorized links, we combine flexible fluidic actuators to obtain multidirectional bending and elongation with a variable stiffness mechanism based on granular jamming. The idea is to develop a manipulator based on a series of modules, each consisting of a silicone matrix with pneumatic chambers for 3-D motion, and one central channel for the integration of granular-jamming-based stiffening mechanism. A bellows-shaped braided structure is used to contain the lateral expansion of the flexible fluidic actuator and to increase its motion range. In this paper, the design and experimental characterization of a single module composed of such a manipulator is presented. Possible applications of the manipulator in the surgical field are discussed.

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## Airicist

Article "Octopus points to the future for keyhole surgery"

by Horizon Magazine
May 2, 2016

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## Airicist

Miniaturised soft robot for minimally invasive surgery

Published on May 14, 2016




> Keyhole, or minimally invasive, surgery can offer many benefits over more traditional, open operations, including reduced risk of infections, quicker recovery times and less scarring. But internal organs can get in the way when hard robotic arms are used, given that access can be very limited and soft tissue can sometimes move in unexpected ways.
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> The EU-funded STIFF-FLOP project has designed, built and operated a soft robotic arm that can squeeze into the body, manoeuvre gently around soft tissue, reconfigure itself, and stiffen to perform tasks that need force.
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> ‘The aim is to develop soft robotics systems that can elongate, bend and move around organs,’ said project coordinator Professor Kaspar Althoefer who conducted the research at King’s College London, UK, and is now at Queen Mary University of London, UK.
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> ‘The octopus provided some inspiration. It has no bones or skeletal structure, and it can squeeze through very narrow openings, but stiffen when required,’ he said.
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> ...

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## Airicist

STIFF-FLOP manipulator with reinforced fluidic chambers - soft robot for MIS

Published on Jun 6, 2016




> STIFF-FLOP focused on Challenge 2 - Cognitive systems and robotics. In minimally invasive surgery, tools go through narrow openings and manipulate soft organs that can move, deform, or change stiffness. There are limitations on modern laparoscopic and robot-assisted surgical systems due to restricted access through Trocar ports, lack of haptic feedback, and difficulties with rigid robot tools operating inside a confined space filled with organs. Also, many control algorithms suffer from stability problems in the presence of unexpected conditions. Yet biological “manipulators”, like the octopus arm and the elephant trunk, can manipulate objects while controlling the stiffness of selected body parts and being inherently compliant when interacting with objects.
> We created a soft robotic arm that can squeeze through a standard 15mm diameter Trocar-port, reconfigure itself and stiffen to perform compliant force control tasks while facing unexpected situations. We addressed the complete system: the design and fabrication of the soft manipulator with a gripper at the tip, distributed sensing, biologically inspired actuation and control architectures, learning and developing cognition through interaction with a human instructor, and manipulating soft objects in complex and uncertain environments.

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