In silicone and in silico: toward evaluation of pacemaker lead implantation based on soft robotics and computer simulation

This paper presents a novel soft robotic phantom designed for evaluating medical tools in pacemaker lead implantation procedures, while minimizing reliance on animal testing. The platform integrates a beating ventricle in silicone with an instrumented apex, a subclavian vein phantom, and a vision-based system, all immersed in a water tank to simulate the blood flow. This hardware is coupled with a real-time biomechanical simulation, offering a realistic environment for testing medical devices and training in silico. This paper focuses on the first experimental assessment of the main elements composing the phantom, as well as the potential complementarity offered by coupling soft hardware with physical simulation to evaluate pacemaker lead designs.