P. Dario - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by P. Dario
Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, 2008
This article was published in an Elsevier journal. The attached copy is furnished to the author f... more This article was published in an Elsevier journal. The attached copy is furnished to the author for non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the author's institution, sharing with colleagues and providing to institution administration. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/copyright
Experimental Robotics I, 1990
Robotic applications involving manipulation of soft materials are receiving increasing attention.... more Robotic applications involving manipulation of soft materials are receiving increasing attention. A particular case of this. problem is the manipulation of soft body tissues for robotic applications in medicine. The ability to sense and characterize the mechanical properties of soft tissues is a prerequisite for a robot to carry out any real intervention for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Identifying regions of different mechanical properties by touch is in fact not only potentially useful per se, but critical for a robot in order to execute, for example, surgical operations. The purpose of this paper is to investigate a method for discriminating mechanical inhomogeneities into a soft tissue, in the simplified case of spherical inclusions. The proposed model has been validated through an experimental approach, also described in the paper, based on the use of a finger-like palpation device equipped with a fingertip piezoelectric polymer film tactile sensor.
The Kluwer International Series in Engineering and Computer Science, 1989
A CCD imager whose sampling structure is loosely modeled after the biological visual system is de... more A CCD imager whose sampling structure is loosely modeled after the biological visual system is described. Its architecture and advantages over conventional cameras for pattern recognition are discussed. The sensor has embedded in its structure a logarithmic transformation that makes it size and rotation invariant. Simulations on real images using the actual sensor geometry have been performed to study the sensor performance for 2D pattern recognition and object tracking. A CCD imager consisting of 30 concentric circles and 64 sensors per circle, whose pixel size increases linearly with eccentricity has been fabricated. The central part has a constant resolution with 102 photocells. The CCD is made in a three phase buried channel technology with triple poly and double metal layers. Preliminary results of the testing are given showing the validity of the design.
6 GIVING-A-HAND System: The Development of a Task-Specific Robot Appliance
Lecture Notes in Control and Information Science
... motic networks to create an integrated system where existing task-specific robotic aids and .... more ... motic networks to create an integrated system where existing task-specific robotic aids and ... in detail only the GIVING-A-HAND concept, the user-centered development process used ... interviews conducted with highly disabled potential users with severe upper arm dysfunction, we ...
2010 3rd IEEE RAS & EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, 2010
Measuring grasping actions and forces in human infants is an important issue in many clinical con... more Measuring grasping actions and forces in human infants is an important issue in many clinical contexts; by analyzing infants' typical development in unstructured environments it is possible to define standards against which to evaluate any condition of abnormal motor development. This work focuses on the development of biomechatronic tools, in particular a "little gym" composed by a set of instrumented toys equipped with a variety of sensors designed for the assessment/stimulation of motor actions of the upper limb of infants between 4 and 9 months of age. The aim of this work is to develop a mechatronic platform able to measure and stimulate infants' movements during the acts of reaching and grasping. In order to check the whole functionality of the mechatronic toys, in terms of working range, sensitivity, acceptance by the infants, some experimental tests have been performed with 7 infants aged from 4 to 9 months, for a total number of 350 measurements. The results confirm the hypothesis that the platform represents a valid tool for continuous monitoring and quantitatively measuring infants' manual function and motor development, without being distressful for the infant.
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2004. Proceedings. ICRA '04. 2004, 2004
This paper presents the design and development of a microrobot which aims to replicate the locomo... more This paper presents the design and development of a microrobot which aims to replicate the locomotion principle of earthworms. The undulatory locomotion of living earthworms has been investigated deeply from the biological point of view, but attempts of replication of earthworm models in real size are limited. The authors designed an artificial earthworm with four modules which can be driven independently according to defined undulatory patterns with a typical frequency of 0.5 Hz. Each module is actuated by one or more SMA springs whose configuration has been designed in order to limit the wiring problems and optimizing working frequency. The robot is covered by a shaped silicone material which can be used as a platform to insert tiny legs for obtaining differential friction conditions. Preliminary tests demonstrate that the earthworm prototypes can move with a speed of 0.22 mm/s, thus approximating the behavior of biological earthworms.
2012 4th IEEE RAS & EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob), 2012
Towards Development of Biomechatronic Tools for Early Diagnosis of Neurodevelopmental Disorders
2006 International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2006
This paper introduces Neurodevelopmental Engineering, a new interdisciplinary research area at th... more This paper introduces Neurodevelopmental Engineering, a new interdisciplinary research area at the intersection of developmental neuroscience and bioengineering. Specifically, it presents current results of the design and development process of a set of instrumented toys equipped with a variety of sensors for behavioral analysis of infants in minimally structured environmental conditions. First the multidisciplinary design approach is presented, then the detailed functional and technical specifications of the proposed biomechatronic toys and of their scenarios of use are described. Finally, a clear picture of ongoing implementation of the proposed technology is provided together with preliminary results of verification tests.
Jumping mini-robot with bio-inspired legs
2008 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics, 2009
This paper presents a bio-inspired concept for an autonomous centimeter-scale robot for locomotio... more This paper presents a bio-inspired concept for an autonomous centimeter-scale robot for locomotion on un-even terrains with bionic legs. Our previous work, the jumping robot ldquoGRILLO Irdquo, is firstly introduced, as well as its limitations. For improving the performance of this prototype, we made biological observations on jumping insects by means of a high speed camera. It was found that
A laboratory for computer-assisted orthopaedic surgery
Fifth International Conference on Advanced Robotics 'Robots in Unstructured Environments, 1991
The overall architecture and the objectives of a laboratory devoted to investigate the integratio... more The overall architecture and the objectives of a laboratory devoted to investigate the integration of planning and executing procedures for orthopaedic surgery are presented. The main components of the architecture are a graphic workstation for processing and manipulating medical images in the planning phase, and two industrial robot manipulators, equipped with a number of different sensors, for executing surgical interventions
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2000
Proceedings of International Conference on Robotics and Automation
This paper presents an integrated approach to tactile perception, both in terms of data acquisiti... more This paper presents an integrated approach to tactile perception, both in terms of data acquisition and of data interpretation. In humans, touch sensing is implemented through a number of different sensing elements embedded in: the skin. The interpretation of perceived data to the level of detection of basic features, such as material, shape of surjface, shape of contact, is achieved by integrating the different sensorial inputs at a low level, with no involvement of high level cognitive processes. The approach we propose in this paper follows this anthropomorphic model of tactile perception, by including, on one hand, a miniature fingertip integrating different sensors and, on the other hand, a parallel data interpretation module, implemented through a fuzzy neural-network, which processes all the different inputs at the same level. The paper describes the characteristics of the integrated fingertip sensor and of the neuro-fuuy system, and discusses experimental results achieved during exploratory tasks on a set of common object are discussed in detail in the following.
Gerontechnology, 2005
A m ong th e options offe re d b y Ge ronte ch nol ogy, rob otics and m e ch atronic te ch nol og... more A m ong th e options offe re d b y Ge ronte ch nol ogy, rob otics and m e ch atronic te ch nol ogie s , in com b ination w ith advance d b iom e ch anical m ode l s , can provide th e ide ntification and s l ow ing dow n of th e
Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, 2010
A custom CMOS image sensor designed for low power endoluminal applications is presented. The fabr... more A custom CMOS image sensor designed for low power endoluminal applications is presented. The fabricated chip includes a 320 × 240 pixel array, a complete read-out channel, a 10-bit ADC converter, a series of DACs for internal references and digital blocks for chip control. The complete functionality of the chip is guaranteed through 7 signal pins, used for the I 2 C-like input and LVDS output interfaces. Prototypes were produced using UMC 0.18 m-CIS (CMOS Image Sensor) technology for both monochrome and colour-RGB versions. Due to its high sensitivity, a pinned photodiode was implemented. The imager was electrically and optically characterized and preliminary ex-vivo tests were performed. Characterization results show state-of-the-art performance in terms of power consumption (<40 mW for the core), which is less than half compared to off-the-shelf sensors, and light sensitivity (0.1 lux@555 nm for the monochrome imager), which makes sensor performance comparable to CCD technology performance for single chip endoluminal applications.
Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, 2010
A miniaturized color camera module for disposable endoscopic applications and minimally invasive ... more A miniaturized color camera module for disposable endoscopic applications and minimally invasive surgery has been designed and developed. The module consists of a Complementary Metal Oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensor, miniaturized optics, a Light Emitting Diode (LED)-based illuminator and a connector on a single substrate. The compact size (5.0 mm × 8.2 mm × 7.0 mm), high-efficiency illumination, VGA resolution and good image quality allow it to be used in endoluminal procedures. A demonstration system has been built and tested in vivo. The module is connected through a 1.5-m long cable to a receiver board, which transfers the data stream to a Personal Computer (PC). A dedicated software controls the hardware setting and displays the image, after having performed various color and image processing tasks.
Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 2006
This paper presents the development of a biomimetic sensor, with the ability to imitate exterocep... more This paper presents the development of a biomimetic sensor, with the ability to imitate exteroceptor and proprioceptor functions of invertebrates, such as earthworms. A polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) film is selected as the sensing element because it is flexible, highly sensitive and easy to be integrated in different shapes. Perforated PVDF strips are embedded in a segmented silicone shell of a crawling earthworm minirobot with the ability to elongate and contract, thanks to a smart configuration of shape memory alloy actuators. A 4-segment minirobot with a sensorised skin has been fabricated. Experiments on separate sensorised silicone segments and also on the sensorised minirobot show that the biomimetic PVDF-based sensors can detect both the external contact and the internal actions, thus imitating the exteroceptive and proprioceptive sensing capabilities of real earthworms.
Robotica, 2009
SUMMARYMiniaturized surgical devices are promising for the future development of minimally invasi... more SUMMARYMiniaturized surgical devices are promising for the future development of minimally invasive and endoluminal surgery. However, the dexterity and therapeutic functions of these devices are limited. In this paper, a reconfigurable modular robotic system is proposed to perform screening and interventions in the gastrointestinal tract. In the proposed system, millimeter-sized robotic modules are ingested and tasked to assemble into an articulated mechanism in the stomach cavity. The modules are assembled according to the target location to perform precise intervention. Based on this concept, a preliminary report is presented covering the robotic schemes for the endoluminal reconfigurable platform, the design with structural functions, the control strategy, and the interval-based constraint satisfaction algorithm to determine the suitable topologies of the reconfigurable robot for the given task.
Measurement Science and Technology, 2007
A new method for the calibration of multi-axis, linear and redundant force sensors is presented. ... more A new method for the calibration of multi-axis, linear and redundant force sensors is presented. This new procedure, named device hyperplane characterization method, is inspired by the shape from motion method for it reduces the burden represented by the need for a huge number of force measurements, typical using least-squares methods, in order to reject errors during the calibration procedure. The proposed technique is an application of the rank theorem and achieves good noise rejection without much time consumption focusing on sensor output measurements, and reducing the effect of disturbances operating the projection of raw output data on the hyperplane to which measurements are ideally compelled to belong in the case of redundant sensors.
Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, 2000
In this paper we analyse the main characteristics of some micro-devices which have been developed... more In this paper we analyse the main characteristics of some micro-devices which have been developed recently for biomedical applications. Among the many biomedical micro-systems proposed in the literature or already on the market, we have selected a few which, in our opinion, represent particularly well the technical problems to be solved, the research topics to be addressed and the opportunities offered by micro-system technology (MST) in the biomedical field. For this review we have identified four important areas of application of micro-systems in medicine and biology: (1) diagnostics; (2) drug delivery; (3) neural prosthetics and tissue engineering; and (4) minimally invasive surgery. We conclude that MST has the potential to play a major role in the development of new medical instrumentation and to have a considerable industrial impact in this field.
Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, 2008
This article was published in an Elsevier journal. The attached copy is furnished to the author f... more This article was published in an Elsevier journal. The attached copy is furnished to the author for non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the author's institution, sharing with colleagues and providing to institution administration. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/copyright
Experimental Robotics I, 1990
Robotic applications involving manipulation of soft materials are receiving increasing attention.... more Robotic applications involving manipulation of soft materials are receiving increasing attention. A particular case of this. problem is the manipulation of soft body tissues for robotic applications in medicine. The ability to sense and characterize the mechanical properties of soft tissues is a prerequisite for a robot to carry out any real intervention for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Identifying regions of different mechanical properties by touch is in fact not only potentially useful per se, but critical for a robot in order to execute, for example, surgical operations. The purpose of this paper is to investigate a method for discriminating mechanical inhomogeneities into a soft tissue, in the simplified case of spherical inclusions. The proposed model has been validated through an experimental approach, also described in the paper, based on the use of a finger-like palpation device equipped with a fingertip piezoelectric polymer film tactile sensor.
The Kluwer International Series in Engineering and Computer Science, 1989
A CCD imager whose sampling structure is loosely modeled after the biological visual system is de... more A CCD imager whose sampling structure is loosely modeled after the biological visual system is described. Its architecture and advantages over conventional cameras for pattern recognition are discussed. The sensor has embedded in its structure a logarithmic transformation that makes it size and rotation invariant. Simulations on real images using the actual sensor geometry have been performed to study the sensor performance for 2D pattern recognition and object tracking. A CCD imager consisting of 30 concentric circles and 64 sensors per circle, whose pixel size increases linearly with eccentricity has been fabricated. The central part has a constant resolution with 102 photocells. The CCD is made in a three phase buried channel technology with triple poly and double metal layers. Preliminary results of the testing are given showing the validity of the design.
6 GIVING-A-HAND System: The Development of a Task-Specific Robot Appliance
Lecture Notes in Control and Information Science
... motic networks to create an integrated system where existing task-specific robotic aids and .... more ... motic networks to create an integrated system where existing task-specific robotic aids and ... in detail only the GIVING-A-HAND concept, the user-centered development process used ... interviews conducted with highly disabled potential users with severe upper arm dysfunction, we ...
2010 3rd IEEE RAS & EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, 2010
Measuring grasping actions and forces in human infants is an important issue in many clinical con... more Measuring grasping actions and forces in human infants is an important issue in many clinical contexts; by analyzing infants' typical development in unstructured environments it is possible to define standards against which to evaluate any condition of abnormal motor development. This work focuses on the development of biomechatronic tools, in particular a "little gym" composed by a set of instrumented toys equipped with a variety of sensors designed for the assessment/stimulation of motor actions of the upper limb of infants between 4 and 9 months of age. The aim of this work is to develop a mechatronic platform able to measure and stimulate infants' movements during the acts of reaching and grasping. In order to check the whole functionality of the mechatronic toys, in terms of working range, sensitivity, acceptance by the infants, some experimental tests have been performed with 7 infants aged from 4 to 9 months, for a total number of 350 measurements. The results confirm the hypothesis that the platform represents a valid tool for continuous monitoring and quantitatively measuring infants' manual function and motor development, without being distressful for the infant.
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2004. Proceedings. ICRA '04. 2004, 2004
This paper presents the design and development of a microrobot which aims to replicate the locomo... more This paper presents the design and development of a microrobot which aims to replicate the locomotion principle of earthworms. The undulatory locomotion of living earthworms has been investigated deeply from the biological point of view, but attempts of replication of earthworm models in real size are limited. The authors designed an artificial earthworm with four modules which can be driven independently according to defined undulatory patterns with a typical frequency of 0.5 Hz. Each module is actuated by one or more SMA springs whose configuration has been designed in order to limit the wiring problems and optimizing working frequency. The robot is covered by a shaped silicone material which can be used as a platform to insert tiny legs for obtaining differential friction conditions. Preliminary tests demonstrate that the earthworm prototypes can move with a speed of 0.22 mm/s, thus approximating the behavior of biological earthworms.
2012 4th IEEE RAS & EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob), 2012
Towards Development of Biomechatronic Tools for Early Diagnosis of Neurodevelopmental Disorders
2006 International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2006
This paper introduces Neurodevelopmental Engineering, a new interdisciplinary research area at th... more This paper introduces Neurodevelopmental Engineering, a new interdisciplinary research area at the intersection of developmental neuroscience and bioengineering. Specifically, it presents current results of the design and development process of a set of instrumented toys equipped with a variety of sensors for behavioral analysis of infants in minimally structured environmental conditions. First the multidisciplinary design approach is presented, then the detailed functional and technical specifications of the proposed biomechatronic toys and of their scenarios of use are described. Finally, a clear picture of ongoing implementation of the proposed technology is provided together with preliminary results of verification tests.
Jumping mini-robot with bio-inspired legs
2008 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics, 2009
This paper presents a bio-inspired concept for an autonomous centimeter-scale robot for locomotio... more This paper presents a bio-inspired concept for an autonomous centimeter-scale robot for locomotion on un-even terrains with bionic legs. Our previous work, the jumping robot ldquoGRILLO Irdquo, is firstly introduced, as well as its limitations. For improving the performance of this prototype, we made biological observations on jumping insects by means of a high speed camera. It was found that
A laboratory for computer-assisted orthopaedic surgery
Fifth International Conference on Advanced Robotics 'Robots in Unstructured Environments, 1991
The overall architecture and the objectives of a laboratory devoted to investigate the integratio... more The overall architecture and the objectives of a laboratory devoted to investigate the integration of planning and executing procedures for orthopaedic surgery are presented. The main components of the architecture are a graphic workstation for processing and manipulating medical images in the planning phase, and two industrial robot manipulators, equipped with a number of different sensors, for executing surgical interventions
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2000
Proceedings of International Conference on Robotics and Automation
This paper presents an integrated approach to tactile perception, both in terms of data acquisiti... more This paper presents an integrated approach to tactile perception, both in terms of data acquisition and of data interpretation. In humans, touch sensing is implemented through a number of different sensing elements embedded in: the skin. The interpretation of perceived data to the level of detection of basic features, such as material, shape of surjface, shape of contact, is achieved by integrating the different sensorial inputs at a low level, with no involvement of high level cognitive processes. The approach we propose in this paper follows this anthropomorphic model of tactile perception, by including, on one hand, a miniature fingertip integrating different sensors and, on the other hand, a parallel data interpretation module, implemented through a fuzzy neural-network, which processes all the different inputs at the same level. The paper describes the characteristics of the integrated fingertip sensor and of the neuro-fuuy system, and discusses experimental results achieved during exploratory tasks on a set of common object are discussed in detail in the following.
Gerontechnology, 2005
A m ong th e options offe re d b y Ge ronte ch nol ogy, rob otics and m e ch atronic te ch nol og... more A m ong th e options offe re d b y Ge ronte ch nol ogy, rob otics and m e ch atronic te ch nol ogie s , in com b ination w ith advance d b iom e ch anical m ode l s , can provide th e ide ntification and s l ow ing dow n of th e
Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, 2010
A custom CMOS image sensor designed for low power endoluminal applications is presented. The fabr... more A custom CMOS image sensor designed for low power endoluminal applications is presented. The fabricated chip includes a 320 × 240 pixel array, a complete read-out channel, a 10-bit ADC converter, a series of DACs for internal references and digital blocks for chip control. The complete functionality of the chip is guaranteed through 7 signal pins, used for the I 2 C-like input and LVDS output interfaces. Prototypes were produced using UMC 0.18 m-CIS (CMOS Image Sensor) technology for both monochrome and colour-RGB versions. Due to its high sensitivity, a pinned photodiode was implemented. The imager was electrically and optically characterized and preliminary ex-vivo tests were performed. Characterization results show state-of-the-art performance in terms of power consumption (<40 mW for the core), which is less than half compared to off-the-shelf sensors, and light sensitivity (0.1 lux@555 nm for the monochrome imager), which makes sensor performance comparable to CCD technology performance for single chip endoluminal applications.
Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, 2010
A miniaturized color camera module for disposable endoscopic applications and minimally invasive ... more A miniaturized color camera module for disposable endoscopic applications and minimally invasive surgery has been designed and developed. The module consists of a Complementary Metal Oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensor, miniaturized optics, a Light Emitting Diode (LED)-based illuminator and a connector on a single substrate. The compact size (5.0 mm × 8.2 mm × 7.0 mm), high-efficiency illumination, VGA resolution and good image quality allow it to be used in endoluminal procedures. A demonstration system has been built and tested in vivo. The module is connected through a 1.5-m long cable to a receiver board, which transfers the data stream to a Personal Computer (PC). A dedicated software controls the hardware setting and displays the image, after having performed various color and image processing tasks.
Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 2006
This paper presents the development of a biomimetic sensor, with the ability to imitate exterocep... more This paper presents the development of a biomimetic sensor, with the ability to imitate exteroceptor and proprioceptor functions of invertebrates, such as earthworms. A polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) film is selected as the sensing element because it is flexible, highly sensitive and easy to be integrated in different shapes. Perforated PVDF strips are embedded in a segmented silicone shell of a crawling earthworm minirobot with the ability to elongate and contract, thanks to a smart configuration of shape memory alloy actuators. A 4-segment minirobot with a sensorised skin has been fabricated. Experiments on separate sensorised silicone segments and also on the sensorised minirobot show that the biomimetic PVDF-based sensors can detect both the external contact and the internal actions, thus imitating the exteroceptive and proprioceptive sensing capabilities of real earthworms.
Robotica, 2009
SUMMARYMiniaturized surgical devices are promising for the future development of minimally invasi... more SUMMARYMiniaturized surgical devices are promising for the future development of minimally invasive and endoluminal surgery. However, the dexterity and therapeutic functions of these devices are limited. In this paper, a reconfigurable modular robotic system is proposed to perform screening and interventions in the gastrointestinal tract. In the proposed system, millimeter-sized robotic modules are ingested and tasked to assemble into an articulated mechanism in the stomach cavity. The modules are assembled according to the target location to perform precise intervention. Based on this concept, a preliminary report is presented covering the robotic schemes for the endoluminal reconfigurable platform, the design with structural functions, the control strategy, and the interval-based constraint satisfaction algorithm to determine the suitable topologies of the reconfigurable robot for the given task.
Measurement Science and Technology, 2007
A new method for the calibration of multi-axis, linear and redundant force sensors is presented. ... more A new method for the calibration of multi-axis, linear and redundant force sensors is presented. This new procedure, named device hyperplane characterization method, is inspired by the shape from motion method for it reduces the burden represented by the need for a huge number of force measurements, typical using least-squares methods, in order to reject errors during the calibration procedure. The proposed technique is an application of the rank theorem and achieves good noise rejection without much time consumption focusing on sensor output measurements, and reducing the effect of disturbances operating the projection of raw output data on the hyperplane to which measurements are ideally compelled to belong in the case of redundant sensors.
Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, 2000
In this paper we analyse the main characteristics of some micro-devices which have been developed... more In this paper we analyse the main characteristics of some micro-devices which have been developed recently for biomedical applications. Among the many biomedical micro-systems proposed in the literature or already on the market, we have selected a few which, in our opinion, represent particularly well the technical problems to be solved, the research topics to be addressed and the opportunities offered by micro-system technology (MST) in the biomedical field. For this review we have identified four important areas of application of micro-systems in medicine and biology: (1) diagnostics; (2) drug delivery; (3) neural prosthetics and tissue engineering; and (4) minimally invasive surgery. We conclude that MST has the potential to play a major role in the development of new medical instrumentation and to have a considerable industrial impact in this field.