Feasibility Study of in Vivo Robotic Plasma Medicine Devices

This paper proposes a robotic plasma medicine device and demonstrates the feasibility in terms of electrical and thermal safety for in vivo plasma generation. The proposed device can produce a low-temperature plasma plume through a dynamically moving, steerable tip to potentially kill tumors selectively. Simulation and experimental studies were performed to investigate the motion effect on the flow rate related to the plasma dosage and the impact of insulation thickness on the electrical breakdown leading to the device failure and temperature increase during plasma generation. A full-scale robotic plasma device with a robotic interface was developed, and we demonstrated a plasma plume successfully delivered through a steerable tip that is operated by a robotic system.