Biomimetic underwater microrobots are of great interest for underwater monitoring operations, such as pollution detection and video mapping in restricted underwater environments. Generally speaking, compact structure, multi‐functionality, flexibility and precise positioning are considered incompatible characteristics for underwater microrobots. Nevertheless, we have designed...

Abstract Phonation results from the passively induced oscillation of vocal folds in larynx, creating sound waves that are then articulated by mouth and nose. Patients undergoing laryngectomy have their removed thus must rely on alternative sources achieving desired vibration artificial folds. Existing solutions, such as voice prostheses Electrolarynx, limited producing sufficient quality, for i...

      The muscle-like technology would be of enormous advantages for biomedical applications such as medical implants and human assist devices. Ionic polymer metal composites (IPMCs) are one kind of biomimetic actuators. An ionic polymer metal composite composed from an ionomer with high ion exchange capacity that packed between two thin metal layers. In the present study we focused on the prep...

Motivated by the lateral line system of fish, arrays of flow sensors have been proposed as a new sensing modality for underwater robots. Existing studies on such artificial lateral lines (ALLs) have been mostly focused on the localization of a fixed underwater vibrating sphere (dipole source). In this paper we examine the problem of tracking a moving dipole source using an ALL system. Based on ...

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 P. Striano (ed.), Epilepsy Towards the Next Decade, Contemporary Clinical Neuroscience, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-12283-0_2 M. Mantegazza () · R. Rusconi · S. Cestèle Institute of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology (IPMC), CNRS UMR7275 and University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis, 660 Route des Lucioles, 06560 Valbonne, France e-mail: mantegazza@ipm...

Ionic electroactive polymers (IEAPs), particularly ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs) and carbon-polymer composites (CPCs), bend when a voltage is applied on their electrodes, and conversely, they generate an electrical signal when subjected to a mechanical bending. In this work we study and compare the capabilities of IPMC and CPC actuators and sensors in closedloop control applications. W...

Electroactive polymers (EAP) are an emerging class of actuation materials. Their large electrically induced strains (longitudinal or bending), low density, mechanical flexibility, and ease of processing offer advantages over traditional electroactive materials. However, before the benefits of these materials can be exploited, their electrical and mechanical behavior must be properly quantified....

Conducting polymer actuators such as polypyrrole (PPy) microactuators are interesting candidates to drive autonomous microrobotic devices that require low weight and low power. Simple PPy tri-layer bending type microactuators that operate in air have been demonstrated previously but they lack individual control and had problems with short circuiting due to electrical connections. The lack of mi...

BACKGROUND Serum dermokine (DK) is a novel biomarker for early colorectal cancer. To our knowledge this is the first study of DK expression in intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) and pancreatic cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS DK expression in human pancreatic cancer cell lines and tissues was assessed. We compared the sensitivities of common diagnostic markers, carbohydrate antigen 1...