The human stomach breaks down and transports food by coordinated radial contractions of the gastric walls. The radial contractions periodically propagate through the stomach and constitute the peristaltic contractions, also called the gastric motility. The force, amplitude, and frequency of peristaltic contractions are relevant to massaging and transporting the food contents in the gastric lumen. However, existing gastric simulators have not faithfully replicated gastric motility. Herein, we report a soft robotic gastric simulator (SoGut) that emulates peristaltic contractions in an anatomically realistic way. SoGut incorporates an array of circular air chambers that generate radial contractions. The design and fabrication of SoGut leverages principles from the soft robotics field, which features compliance and adaptability. We studied the force and amplitude of the contractions when the lumen of SoGut was empty or filled with contents of different viscosity. We examined the contracting force using manometry. SoGut exhibited a similar range of contracting force as the human stomach reported in the literature. Besides, we investigated the amplitude of the contractions through videofluoroscopy where the contraction ratio was derived. The contraction ratio as a function of inflation pressure is found to match the observations of in vivo situations. We demonstrated that SoGut can achieve in vitro peristaltic contractions by coordinating the inflation sequence of multiple air chambers. It exhibited the functions to massage and transport the food contents. SoGut can simulate the physiological motions of the human stomach to advance research of digestion.

中文翻译：

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SoGut：软机器人胃模拟器

人的胃通过胃壁的协调径向收缩来分解和运输食物。径向收缩周期性地通过胃传播并构成蠕动收缩，也称为胃动力。蠕动收缩的力、幅度和频率与胃腔内食物内容物的按摩和运输有关。然而，现有的胃模拟器没有忠实地复制胃动力。在这里，我们报告了一种软机器人胃模拟器 (SoGut)，它以解剖学上逼真的方式模拟蠕动收缩。SoGut 包含一系列圆形气室，可产生径向收缩。SoGut 的设计和制造利用了软机器人领域的原理，具有合规性和适应性。我们研究了当 SoGut 的管腔为空或充满不同粘度的内容物时的收缩力和幅度。我们使用测压法检查了收缩力。SoGut 表现出与文献中报道的人类胃相似的收缩力范围。此外，我们通过视频透视研究了收缩的幅度，其中得出了收缩率。收缩率作为充气压力的函数被发现与观察结果相匹配 我们通过电视荧光镜检查了收缩的幅度，其中得出了收缩率。收缩率作为充气压力的函数被发现与观察结果相匹配 我们通过电视荧光镜检查了收缩的幅度，其中得出了收缩率。收缩率作为充气压力的函数被发现与观察结果相匹配在体内的情况下。我们证明了 SoGut 可以通过协调多个气室的充气顺序来实现体外蠕动收缩。它具有按摩和运输食物内容物的功能。SoGut 可以模拟人胃的生理运动来推进消化研究。