Robotics for Cell Manipulation and Characterization provides fundamental principles underpinning robotic cell manipulation and characterization, state-of-the-art technical advances in micro/nano robotics, new discoveries of cell biology enabled by robotic systems, and their applications in clinical diagnosis and treatment. This book covers several areas, including robotics, control, computer vision, biomedical engineering and life sciences using understandable figures and tables to enhance readers' comprehension and pinpoint challenges and opportunities for biological and biomedical research. - Focuses on, and comprehensively covers, robotics for cell manipulation and characterization - Highlights recent advances in cell biology and disease treatment enabled by robotic cell manipulation and characterization - Provides insightful outlooks on future challenges and opportunities

Robotic Cell Manipulation introduces up-to-date research to realize this new theme of medical robotics. The book is organized in three levels: operation tools (e.g., optical tweezers, microneedles, dielectrophoresis, electromagnetic devices, and microfluidic chips), manipulation types (e.g., microinjection, transportation, rotation fusion, adhesion, separation, etc.), and potential medical applications (e.g., micro-surgery, biopsy, gene editing, cancer treatment, cell-cell interactions, etc.). The technology involves different fields such as robotics, automation, imaging, microfluidics, mechanics, materials, biology and medical sciences. The book provides systematic knowledge on the subject, covering a wide range of basic concepts, theories, methodology, experiments, case studies and potential medical applications. It will enable readers to promptly conduct a systematic review of research and become an essential reference for many new and experienced researchers entering this unique field. - Introduces the applications of robot-assisted manipulation tools in various cell manipulation tasks - Defines many essential concepts in association with the robotic cell manipulation field, including manipulation strategy and manipulation types - Introduces basic concepts and knowledge on various manipulation devices and tasks - Describes some cutting-edge cell manipulation technologies and case studies

This is the first book to focus on robotic reproductive cell manipulation. It provides readers with the fundamental principles underpinning robotic manipulation of reproductive cells, including sperm, oocytes, and embryos, state-of-the-art technical advances in actuation, sensing and control for cell manipulation, and emerging automated systems for reproductive cell manipulation. The methods presented in the book are generic and can be translated to manipulating other types of cells, such as cancer cells and cardiomyocytes. Robotic Manipulation of Reproductive Cells will be an essential reference for graduate students and researchers working on small-scale robotic systems for cell manipulation and characterization, healthcare professionals interested in nanoscale, microscale, milli-scale robotic techniques for clinical cell surgeries and assisted reproduction, and engineers developing small-scale robotic systems for biomedical engineering, biology, and medicine.

Robotic engineering inspired by biology—biomimetics—has many potential applications: robot snakes can be used for rescue operations in disasters, snake-like endoscopes can be used in medical diagnosis, and artificial muscles can replace damaged muscles to recover the motor functions of human limbs. Conversely, the application of robotics technology to our understanding of biological systems and behaviors—biorobotic modeling and analysis—provides unique research opportunities: robotic manipulation technology with optical tweezers can be used to study the cell mechanics of human red blood cells, a surface electromyography sensing system can help us identify the relation between muscle forces and hand movements, and mathematical models of brain circuitry may help us understand how the cerebellum achieves movement control. Biologically Inspired Robotics contains cutting-edge material—considerably expanded and with additional analysis—from the 2009 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO). These 16 chapters cover both biomimetics and biorobotic modeling/analysis, taking readers through an exploration of biologically inspired robot design and control, micro/nano bio-robotic systems, biological measurement and actuation, and applications of robotics technology to biological problems. Contributors examine a wide range of topics, including: A method for controlling the motion of a robotic snake The design of a bionic fitness cycle inspired by the jaguar The use of autonomous robotic fish to detect pollution A noninvasive brain-activity scanning method using a hybrid sensor A rehabilitation system for recovering motor function in human hands after injury Human-like robotic eye and head movements in human–machine interactions A state-of-the-art resource for graduate students and researchers.

Heterogeneity is the hallmark of cell biology. Robotic system and automated methods are required for characterization and manipulation of a large number of single cells for many important applications, such as characterizing cell-cell communication for screening drug effects, processing oocytes or embryos for cryopreservation, and analyzing sperm locomotion behavior for selection of a high-quality sperm for in vitro fertilization (IVF). However, current robotic characterization and manipulation systems have two major limitations in search-and-locating end-effector tips and determination of relative Z position between end-effector tips and single cells. This research has addressed these two limitations by developing an auto-locating end-effector tip method and two vision-based contact detection algorithms. By integrating the two new solutions, I have built two robotic system prototypes for microinjection of a large number of adherent cells and automatically processing oocytes or embryos for vitrification. The robotic microinjection system enabled automated gap junction measurement for repurposing antiarrhythmic drugs to identify optimal treatments for cardiac arrhythmias by assessing each drugâ s efficacy on rescuing/enhancing gap junctions. Robotic vitrification relieves human operators from tedious and difficult manual steps, eliminating operator errors and inconsistencies. It also offers unparalleled timing control based on real-time embryo volume monitoring. Automation enables the system to process multiple oocytes/embryos with high efficiency. In addition, automated methods were developed to quantitatively analyze sperm locomotion behaviors by tracking both sperm head and tail. Experimental results on automated sperm analysis revealed a significant correlation between sperm head velocity and tail beating amplitude. By combining automated sperm motility analysis with DNA assessment technique, this research offers a new solution for identifying single sperms of high quality for IVF applications. In the end, this research also reviewed future research directions in microsystems and nanoengineering for intracellular measurement and manipulations and discussed the promising research for the intracellular study.

Micro/Nano-robotics for Biomedical Applications features a system approach and incorporates modern methodologies in autonomous mobile robots for programmable and controllable micro/nano-robots aiming at biomedical applications. The book provides chapters of instructional materials in micro/nanorobotics for biomedical applications. The book features lecture units on micro/nanorobot components and techniques, including sensors, actuator, power supply, and micro/nano-fabrication and assembly. It also contains case studies on using micro/nano-robots in biomedical environments and in biomedicine, as well as a design example to conceptually develop a Vitamin-pill sized robot to enter human’s gastrointestinal tract. Laboratory modules to teach robot navigation and cooperation methods suitable to biomedical applications will be also provided based on existing simulation and robot platforms.

Autonomous Robot-Aided Optical Manipulation for Biological Cells gives a systematically and almost self-contained description of the many facets of modeling, sensing, and control techniques or experimentally exploring emerging trends in optical manipulation of biological cell in micro/nanorobotics systems. To achieve biomedical applications, reliability design, modeling, and precision control are vitally important for the development of engineering systems. With the advances in modeling, sensing, and control techniques, it is opportunistic to exploit them for the benefit of reliability design, actuation, and precision control of micro/nanomanipulation systems to expanding the applications of robot at the micro and nano scales, especially in biomedical engineering. This book presents new techniques in reliability modeling and advanced control of robot-aided optical manipulation of biological cells systems. The book will be beneficial to the researchers within robotics, mechatronics, biomedical engineering, and automatic control society, including both academic and industrial parts. - Provides a series of latest results in, including but not limited to, design, sensing, actuation, modeling, and control of micro/nano manipulation system using optical tweezers - Gives recent advances of theory, technological aspects, and applications of advanced sensing, actuation, modeling and control methodologies in biomedical engineering applications - Offers simulation and experimental results in each chapter in order to reflect the biomedical engineering practice, yet demonstrate the main focus of the developed design, analysis and synthesis approaches