Technologies search results
23 Results for ''
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Manufacturing Mini Surgical Robots
Project 1985 is commercializing the Wyss Institute’s Pop-Up MEMS technology to quickly and cheaply develop tiny robotic tools for minimally invasive surgery. -
Molecular Nucleic Acid Detection Technology to Empower Patients with Self-Testing Capabilities
This technology provides an innovative molecular diagnostic assay for high-speed, sensitive, and specific detection of nucleic acids from SARS-CoV-2 or other pathogens, performed in a newly devised reusable base unit with pathogen-specific, one-time-use consumables – first prototyped at the Wyss Institute, then transformed into an inexpensive, reliable and manufacturable detection system by 3EO Health. -
PhonoGraftTM: Biomimetic Hearing-restoration Technology
PhonoGraft is an eardrum-regenerating device that enables better and longer-lasting eardrum reconstruction, reducing the need for invasive surgeries and minimizing the risk of long-term hearing loss. Wyss startup Beacon Bio was acquired by Desktop Health, a healthcare business within Desktop Metal, Inc. which is further developing this technology towards commercialization with the former Wyss startup team leading the way. -
Soft Robotic Glove for Neuromuscular Rehabilitation
The soft robotic glove helps restore lost hand function in patients with neurological conditions using inflatable chambers that gently bend and straighten the fingers repeatedly. Wyss startup Imago Rehab launched in 2021 to commercialize this technology for at-home rehabilitation of stroke survivors, and aims to expand its offerings into other areas of rehabilitation. -
Low-Cost Tactile Displays for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Age-related medical conditions are responsible for most cases of blindness and visual impairment worldwide. In 2015, there were an estimated 36 million blind people in the world, with an additional 217 million suffering from moderate to severe vision impairment. Over 80% of the visually impaired were older than 50, and this percentage is expected to... -
EverActive: Strength Tracking Sensor for Sustainable Personalized Training
Exercise is key to good health, where aerobic and strength training are the two essential types. Industry has developed a number of aids and appliances ranging from sports watches to large stationary equipment to help track aerobic activities. Meanwhile, people still have to record manually their strength workouts and only few can do it, as... -
MM3D: Multimaterial Multinozzle 3D Printing
3D printers are revolutionizing manufacturing by allowing users to create any physical shape they can imagine on-demand. However, most extrusion-based printers available commercially are only able to build objects from a single nozzle at a time. Those that can deposit multiple inks are even slower due to the additional time required to switch between materials.... -
FOAMs: Soft Robotic Artificial Muscles
Soft robots, similar to living organisms, are made from compliant materials that allow them great flexibility and adaptability for tasks at the human-robot interface and elsewhere. To enable soft robotic missions in different industrial, exploratory, and medical settings, engineers are trying to equip them with artificial muscles that could enable them to move smoothly, efficiently... -
milliDelta: Millimeter-Scale Delta Robot
Delta robots are deployed in many industrial processes, including pick-and-place assemblies, machining, welding, and food packaging. Three individually controlled lightweight arms enable fast and accurate motion of an output platform in three directions. Roboticists have reduced the size of Delta robots for tasks in limited workspaces, but so far, using conventional manufacturing techniques and components,... -
HAMR: Versatile Crawling Microrobot
Small or difficult-to-access spaces such as areas covered with rubble, or narrow pipes and engines can pose obstacles to search-and-rescue missions, repair works, or environmental and industrial monitoring. One solution for these problems could be small-sized robots that are able to navigate such spaces, transport payload, sense, and communicate. Wyss Institute researchers have developed a... -
Soft Robotic Shoulder Support for Stroke Rehabilitation
The majority of stroke survivors have difficulty using their affected arm in everyday life. Commercial rehabilitation robots exist, but most are expensive, rigid, non-portable exoskeletons that can only be used in clinical rehabilitation settings. Portable devices could considerably increase the frequency and amount of robotic therapy, maximizing the recovery possible for patients with arm impairments.... -
Root: Educational Robot for Coding
Computing is currently the fastest growing segment in the STEM fields, yet education in this area has lagged behind technological progress and demand. One of the main challenges in teaching K-16 coding is the difficulty in finding frameworks that span a wide age range and appeal to broad audiences. Databases aren’t something that excite most... -
Project Abbie
Over 15 million Americans are at risk of anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction triggered by exposure to certain foods, materials, medications, and insect bites. Every three minutes, a food reaction sends someone to the emergency room. In most individuals, anaphylactic shock can be prevented by administering the counteracting drug epinephrine, as soon as an attack... -
Vibrating Insoles for Better Balance
Balance in humans relies on complex feedback from the senses that govern the body’s mechanical stability. Wyss Institute and Boston University researchers have discovered that random vibrations, too gentle to be felt, can improve the sensory feedback system and may restore stability through a mechanism known as “stochastic resonance”. By incorporating vibrating elements in insoles... -
Active Mattress for Infant Health
Wyss pediatric biotech startup Prapela is commercializing a gently vibrating mattress pad that helps soothe infants and normalize their breathing. This medical device can be used to address a variety of health conditions, including infant apnea and neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome. -
Liquid-Gated Membranes for Filtration
Just like pores in living organisms that control the absorption and excretion of fluids, gases and solids in response to their environments, flow-gating membranes have proved very useful for many mechanical systems, such as gas and liquid separators, dialysis machines, or open heart bypass pumps. But conventional approaches to create synthetic “gated pores” within those... -
Multiplexed Molecular Force Spectroscopy
Programmable DNA nanoswitches, invented at the Wyss Institute, can now be used in combination with a benchtop Centrifuge Force Microscope (CFM) as a highly reliable tool to observe thousands of individual molecules and their responses to mechanical forces in parallel. By analyzing the responses of single molecules under conditions where they experience such forces, it is possible... -
Microfluidic Hemostasis Monitor
The body’s ability to stop bleeding, also known as hemostasis, is critical for survival. For patients with blood clotting disorders, medical conditions requiring the use of anticoagulation or antiplatelet drugs, or who require treatment with extracorporeal devices that circulate their blood outside of the body, it is essential that care providers can rapidly monitor their... -
Programmable Robot Swarms
Collective behaviors enable animals like ants to achieve remarkable, colony-level feats through the distributed actions of millions of independent agents. These collective behaviors are inspiring engineers at the Wyss Institute to build simple mobile robots that harness the demonstrated power of the swarm, performing collective tasks like transporting large objects or autonomously building human-scale structures.... -
RoboBees: Autonomous Flying Microrobots
Inspired by the biology of a bee, researchers at the Wyss Institute are developing RoboBees, manmade systems that could perform myriad roles in agriculture or disaster relief. A RoboBee measures about half the size of a paper clip, weighs less that one-tenth of a gram, and flies using “artificial muscles” compromised of materials that contract when... -
Pop-Up MEMS: Origami-Inspired Micromanufacturing
Recent decades have seen rapid development in the manufacture of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) at the micrometer scale, mostly based on silicon wafer processing techniques, with characteristic length scales of millimeters to nanometers. However, standard MEMS techniques are often inappropriate for producing machines with complex 3D topologies and varied constituent materials at the mesoscale, at sizes... -
4D Printing of Shapeshifting Devices
Organisms, such as flowers and plants, have tissue compositions and microstructures creating dynamic morphologies that can shapeshift in response to changes in their environments. Researchers at the Wyss Institute have mimicked a variety of such dynamic shape changes like those performed by tendrils, leaves, and flowers in response to changes in humidity or temperature with... -
Soft Exosuits for Lower Extremity Mobility
Our lower-extremity soft exosuit is made of light, flexible fabrics that move with the wearer like clothing, and apply precisely timed assistive forces to a patient's ankles to improve their walking and mobility. This technology was licensed by ReWalk Robotics, which has commercialized it as the ReStore™ for stroke rehabilitation.