A Multiarm Robotic Platform for Scientific Exploration: Its Design, Digital Twins, and Validation

Abstract

There is a large number of robotic platforms with two or more arms targeting surgical applications. Despite that, very few groups have employed such platforms for scientific exploration. Possible applications of a multiarm platform in scientific exploration involve the study of the mechanisms of intractable diseases by using organoids, i.e., miniature human organs. The study of organoids requires the preparation of a cranial window, which is done by carefully removing an 8-mm patch of the skull of a mouse. In this article, we present the first prototype of our artificial intelligence (AI) robot science platform for scientific experimentation, its digital twins, and validation experiments under teleoperation. The experiments showcase the dexterity of the platform by performing peg transfer, gauze cutting, mock experiments using eggs, and the world’s first two operator teleoperated drilling for a cranial window. The digital twins and related control software are available free for noncommercial use at <ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://AISciencePlatform.github.io" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">https://AISciencePlatform.github.io</ext-link> .