Everting Vine Robot Intubation for Tracheal Access With Less Training
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Solution Overview
Problem
Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) achieve only about 50% success in tracheal intubation during emergency scenarios due to the need for extensive training typically required for hospital-level success, posing a challenge in providing critical care without anesthesiologist-level training.
Innovation Solution
A tracheal intubation device featuring a housing with coupled everting vine robots that extend to the laryngopharynx and trachea, facilitated by an airflow lumen, allowing for less extensive medical training to achieve hospital-level intubation success.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If extensive training is provided to achieve hospital-level intubation success, then intubation success rate is improved, but training cost and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary device (the intubation device with everting vine robots) that mediates between the operator and the difficult tracheal access task. The device performs the complex navigation and positioning functions automatically, allowing operators with basic training to achieve hospital-level success rates without requiring extensive anesthesiologist-level training.
Solution Approach 2:
The everting vine robots perform self-navigation through the airway using their own expansion and eversion mechanisms. The device guides itself through the laryngopharynx and into the trachea without requiring complex manual manipulation or advanced operator skills, enabling operators to achieve successful intubation with minimal training.
2Measurement precision
If traditional rigid intubation techniques are used, then intubation precision is maintained, but operator skill requirement increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs flexible everting vine robots with compliant bodies that can adapt to the curved anatomy of the airway. The flexible nature of the vine robots allows them to navigate the laryngopharynx and trachea smoothly, achieving precise tracheal access while being easy to operate. The flexibility eliminates the need for rigid manipulation skills, allowing operators with minimal training to achieve successful intubation.
Solution Approach 2:
The intubation device transitions from a static rigid structure to a dynamic system where the vine robots can expand, eversion, and adapt their shape in real-time. This dynamic capability allows the device to respond to anatomical variations and achieve precise positioning automatically, reducing the skill requirement for operators while maintaining high precision in tracheal access.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The device enhances intubation success rates by enabling effective tracheal access with reduced training requirements, ensuring critical care delivery by EMTs and other personnel.
Implementation Method 1
A first everting vine robot is coupled to the housing and configured to extend from the housing, when inserted into the subject, to the back of a laryngopharynx of the subject when actuated
Implementation Method 2
The growth robot has a thin-walled, hollow, pressurized, compliant body that elongates the body by everting from its tip new wall material that is stored inside the body
Data Source
AI summary
A tracheal intubation device includes a housing configured to be inserted into a subject. A first everting vine robot is coupled to the housing and configured to extend from the housing, when inserted into the subject, to the back of a laryngopharynx of the subject when actuated. A second everting vine robot is coupled to the first everting vine robot and configured to extend from the actuated primary vine robot into a trachea of the subject when actuated. An airflow lumen is provided by the housing, the first everting vine robot, and the second everting vine robot from outside a body of the subject to the trachea of the subject.