Toyoda Gosei develops prototype medical simulator using e-Rubber

Kiyosu, Japan – Toyoda Gosei Co. and Japanese simulators start-up EBM Corp. have developed a prototype surgical training simulator that can reproduce the beating of the heart “with extreme accuracy”, the Japanese company announced 2 July.

The simulator - SupeR BEAT - uses Toyoda Gosei’s e-Rubber as artificial muscle that functions with electricity.

Toyoda-Gosei unveiled its next-generation rubber – e-rubbber – in January. The rubber functions with electricity and mechanical force.

The company is developing the material for commercialisation as soft actuators and soft sensors.

EBM is a university-launched startup, established in 2006, involved in training simulator development and system creation, principally in the field of cardiac surgery.

The simulator developed by the two companies aims to improve surgical training.

The two Japanese companies started collaboration on the project in November last year.

In EBM’s current BEAT simulator, the movement of the heart is simulated with the use of a shape-memory alloy that expands and contracts by heating.

The SupeR BEAT version of this simulator uses e-Rubber, which expands and contracts rapidly in response to electricity switching on and off.