Sensing Knife
The human hand, equipped with a cutting tool, senses and intervenes on materials in a single gesture. The dexterity of the craftsman – who cuts and manipulates matter with minimal collateral damage – necessitates an immediate relation between perception and execution. We are developing a new concrete solution to experimentally navigate in-between areas through physically acting probes. Detecting the contrast in the properties of materials, this new tool will use the information to make ultra-precise and extremely quick decisions about contour drawing of objects with unclear boundaries, such as tumors – and cutting where it is most relevant. Based on those sensing probes, we imagine developing methods and tools to intervene at molecular and cellular scales that would simultaneously operate as a swarm of micro-sensing knives. As a result, we envision the reduction of energy costs and error rates, as well as dramatically improved recovery processes in medical solutions.
Scanning electron microscope image of the scanning probe microscope Silicon nitride sharp probe. At 99300x magnification. An apex radius of just 7 nm is typical. Copyright: Mohammad Fardin Gholami and Johannes Müller
The »Sensing Knife« will make use of machine learning in order to maximize the human-machine interaction. The process of sensing will continuously account for the dynamic deformation of both body and knife, while the actions are performed. We envision a surgical instrument which allows for removal of pathological tissues with unprecedented accuracy. Among the possible domains of application, we have identified neurosurgical operations as the most promising challenge for this concept. Experiments on biological cells of different regions of the brain and on specific hydrogels mimicking their properties are being carried out as a working test bench.
We will design hands-on workshops to experimentally explore the concepts underlying the sensing knife. We will work on detection of elasticity at various scales – from the hand (macro scale) to the tip of a probe (nanoscale). We will investigate the sensing aspect of the ›cutting‹ gesture and reflect together in a design practice-as-research process on the idea of a collaborative sensitivity between the human and the machine.
The observations of »Sensing Knife« will also lead to the discovery of new concepts for intelligent materials. We will conduct specific demonstrations of self-healing, two-dimensional, atomically-thin membranes and filters. Encoding behavior in the material is one of the next possible steps. This research promises to make use of unprecedented precise detection of boundaries in order to fabricate new nanostructures and thus develop materials with new properties, which could not be prepared using traditional physicochemical methods.
