Design, Testing, and Validation of a Soft Robotic Sensor Array Integrated with Flexible Electronics for Mapping...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Cardiovascular Research
• Robotics in Medicine

Background:

• Current cardiac mapping techniques have limitations in electrode coverage, anatomical conformity, and cost.
• Accurate electrophysiological data is essential for diagnosing and treating cardiac arrhythmias.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design, test, and validate a 64-electrode soft robotic catheter for enhanced cardiac mapping.
• To address the limitations of existing cardiac mapping technologies with a conformable, high-density electrode system.

Main Methods:

• Development of a dual-layer flexible printed circuit board (PCB) integrated into a soft robotic sensor array (SRSA).
• In vitro testing of the SRSA for mechanical integrity, electrode contact, and environmental resilience.
• In vivo validation using a porcine model to assess deployment, conformability, and electrogram acquisition.

Main Results:

• The soft robotic sensor array (SRSA) demonstrated successful deployment and anatomical conformity in a porcine model.
• High-density electrode array enabled rapid 2-second data acquisition with detailed spatial and temporal resolution.
• Clear and consistent cardiac signals were recorded across all electrodes, validating the system's performance.

Conclusions:

• The catheter-deployable SRSA represents a significant advancement in integrating soft robotics and stretchable electronics for clinical cardiac mapping.
• This technology offers improved performance for detailed cardiac mapping to guide ablation therapy and other interventions.
• Future work will focus on further refining anatomically conformable devices for clinical applications.