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Large Scale Ultrafast Manufacturing of Wireless Soft Bioelectronics Enabled by Autonomous Robot Arm Printing Assisted
Jihyun Kim1,2, Seol-Ha Jeong1, Brendan Craig Thibault1,3
1Division of Engineering in Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02139, USA.
Advanced Healthcare Materials
|November 15, 2024
Summary
A novel wound healing patch, CARE, uses a robot arm and AI to create custom electrotherapy patches. This technology accelerates cell migration, showing promise for advanced wound regeneration therapies.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Regenerative Medicine
- Bioelectronics
Background:
- Growing demand for flexible, stretchable, and wireless bioelectronics for electrotherapy.
- Need for adaptable wound care solutions for individual patients.
- Limitations of current wound healing methods in complex or curved wound environments.
Purpose of the Study:
- Introduce the Customized wound patch for Advanced tissue Regeneration with Electric field (CARE) system.
- Demonstrate CARE's capability for rapid, customized bioelectronic patch manufacturing.
- Evaluate CARE's efficacy in accelerating in vitro wound healing processes.
Main Methods:
- Development of an autonomous robot arm printing system with computer vision guidance.
- 3D wound mapping using a 6-axis robot arm for multi-angle scanning.
- MATLAB simulation for optimizing electrode size and power-receiving coil geometry for wireless power transfer.
- Sequential extrusion and printing of three heterogeneous inks onto flexible substrates.
Main Results:
- CARE system enables fast manufacturing of large, customized bioelectronic patches.
- Effective electrical stimulation of wounds up to 10 mm depth with 88.8 mV mm⁻¹ electric field strength.
- Accelerated cell migration by 1.6x for human dermal fibroblasts and 1.9x for human umbilical vein endothelial cells in vitro.
Conclusions:
- CARE system offers a promising approach for personalized wound electrotherapy.
- The technology facilitates efficient wireless power transfer and rapid manufacturing of advanced wound patches.
- CARE demonstrates significant potential as a clinical method to accelerate wound healing and regeneration.
