Kennesaw State University announced in an article by Abbey O’Brien Barrows posted on the KSU website that three researchers on the faculty of the university’s Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering and Engineering Technology (SPCEET) have received a $364,220 grant from the National Institutes of Health for a 3-year robotics project intended to improve heart procedures.

The recipients of the grant are principal investigator and assistant professor of robotics and mechatronics engineering Amir Ali Amiri Moghadam, associate professor of mechanical engineering Ayse Tekes, and SPCEET’s interim assistant dean for academic affairs Turaj Ashuri.

The project is entitled, ““Design and Fabrication of Soft Parallel Robots for Transcatheter Interventions.”

The goal is to create a tiny soft robot that will fit inside a catheter and be delivered to the heart.

According to the article announcing the grant, “The robots are nimble, precise, versatile, and valuable in multiple procedures, including heart valve repair, atrial fibrillation, and intracardiac echocardiography.”

“This award represents an opportunity to greatly benefit society, and I’m proud that three of our faculty members and their students will be part of the research,” SPCEET Dean Ian Ferguson said in the article. “Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, and this project will be a significant step forward in helping surgeons with their patients.”

“Developing this new device can reduce the impact of heart failure on patients’ lives and those around them, and it helps to lengthen life and promote a healthy society,” Amiri Moghadam said. “Because transcatheter interventions do not require cutting the heart open, they can revolutionize the treatment of cardiac disease. They cause significantly less trauma to patients and typically involve less recovery time and a reduced risk of infection.”

The three researchers will also develop a course for KSU students entitled ““Design and Development of Soft Robots for Biomedical Intervention”

For more details read the original article on the KSU website by following this link.