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Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)
Tooltip
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Tool Holder Testing
This activity, from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), requires students to compete to make the strongest electromagnetic tool holder for a surgeon's robotic arm.
It is intended that students will be able to:
• Design the optimal electromagnet given constraints
• Consider the factors involved in electromagnet strength and design
Telemedicine is a new and fast developing field in healthcare. Even 20 years ago the idea of a surgeon being able to operate a robot from hundreds of miles away in order to perform an operation seemed like science fiction. Today, this is not only possible but engineers, working with scientists and doctors, are now designing robotic systems which will be able to operate on patients with no human intervention at all.
In this activity, students work in teams to build an ‘arm’ with an electromagnetic gripper at one end. Each team is given some basic parts to start and a sum of ‘money’ or tokens with which to buy other parts. Once their arm and gripper are complete they will have 30 seconds to move as many paper clips from one pile to another. The team moving the most paper clips in the allotted time will be the winner.
The activity is supported by the activity sheet tool holder testing, a component price list and an information sheet providing additional information about electromagnets.
Related activities can be found in the Remote Operations sub-collection.
This activity is supported by the video Robotic Surgery and the video Remote Medicine.
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