TOPIC
Hardware
16 entries across the knowledge base
TransistorsA tiny electrically-controlled switch and amplifier — the single invention that everything digital is built from, and the part that drives a motor or amplifies an ECG.concept · 4 min · foundationTeleoperation, degrees of freedom & end-effectorsHow a surgeon at a console moves a robot inside a patient: master–slave control, motion scaling, the joints that give a robot its dexterity (degrees of freedom), and the tool at the tip.concept · 5 min · foundationSensors & transducersHow a temperature, a pressure or a heartbeat becomes a number: the transducer that converts physiology to a voltage, then the chain that digitises it.concept · 5 min · foundationResistorsThe most common component on any board — it limits current and divides voltage, which is how a sensor's reading even becomes a number.concept · 3 min · foundationFeedback control & PIDHow a machine holds a target — a temperature, a dose rate, a joint angle — by constantly measuring the error and correcting. PID is the control algorithm running inside incubators, pumps and robots.concept · 5 min · foundationPrinted circuit boards (PCB)The green board everything is soldered to — and the copper traces that wire the components together. In a medical device, the PCB is also where reliability and electrical safety are designed in.concept · 4 min · foundationOperational amplifiers & biosignal amplificationThe triangle that turns a microvolt heartbeat into something a computer can read — and the instrumentation amplifier built from it that makes ECG and EEG possible.concept · 4 min · foundationMicrocontrollers — the brain of a deviceThe little computer-on-a-chip that runs the firmware inside a glucose meter, a wearable or an infusion pump: CPU, memory and the pins that touch the real world, all in one part.concept · 4 min · foundationAnatomy of a medical robotEvery robot — surgical, rehab, lab or delivery — is the same loop: sense, think, act, repeat. Here's how the hardware pieces you've met assemble into one.concept · 5 min · foundationLEDs & photodiodesDiodes that emit light, and diodes that detect it — paired across a fingertip, they are exactly how a pulse oximeter reads SpO₂.concept · 4 min · foundationInductors & coilsA coil that stores energy in a magnetic field — the part behind wireless charging of an implant, the gradient coils of an MRI, and the power supply inside every device.concept · 4 min · foundationDiodes & rectifiersA one-way valve for current — it turns AC into DC, protects a circuit from reversed batteries, and absorbs the kick from a motor or solenoid.concept · 3 min · foundationCapacitorsTwo plates that store charge in an electric field — the part that delivers a defibrillator's jolt and cleans up an ECG signal.concept · 4 min · foundationBatteries & power managementWhy a pacemaker lasts a decade and a wearable a day comes down to the same arithmetic: how much energy is stored versus how much the device sips. Power is the quiet constraint behind every device decision.concept · 4 min · foundationADC & DAC — turning signals into numbersThe converters at the border between the analog world and the computer: an ADC samples a waveform into numbers, a DAC turns numbers back into a signal. Sampling rate and resolution decide whether the data is any good.concept · 4 min · foundationActuators & motorsIf sensors are how a device feels, actuators are how it acts: the motors and valves that drive an infusion pump, move a surgical-robot joint, or close a prosthetic hand.concept · 4 min · foundation