Robotic sensory cilia that monitor internal biomarkers to detect and assess airway diseases

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This work was done in collaboration with Vanderbilt University Medical Center faculty members Fabien Maldonado, professor of medicine and thoracic surgery; Caitlin Demarest, assistant professor Thoracic Surgery; and Caglar Oskay, chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Engineering. Yusheng Wang, the study’s first author, is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Our sensing mechanism for mucus viscosity leverages external magnetic fields to actuate a magnetic artificial cilium, with shape sensing achieved through a flexible strain-gauge. Additionally, we developed an artificial cilium with capacitance sensing for measuring mucus layer thickness, offering unique self-calibration, adjustable sensitivity, and range—all enabled by external magnetic fields generated by a wearable magnetic actuation system. We tested this method by deploying the sensors independently or in conjunction with an airway stent within both an artificial trachea and a sheep trachea. Sensing signals are transferred wirelessly to a smartphone or the cloud for further data analysis and disease diagnosis. These sensing mechanisms and devices pave the way for real-time monitoring of mucus conditions, facilitating early disease detection, providing stent patency alerts, and thereby enabling timely interventions and personalized care.

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