Publications by Paolo Germano | EPFL Graph Search

Development and validation of a dielectric-elastomer-based artificial urinary sphincter

Paolo Germano, Yves Perriard, Yoan René Cyrille Civet, Quentin Philippe Mario De Menech, Marc Michel Charles Favier, Armando Matthieu Walter

This study presents the development and experimental validation of an artificial urinary sphincter (AUS) based on dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) for the treatment of urinary incontinence. Traditional AUS devices are often mechanically complex, prone ...

SPIE2025

A Tunable Self-Offloading Module for Plantar Pressure Regulation in Diabetic Patients

Paolo Germano, Christian Köchli, Yves Perriard, Yoan René Cyrille Civet, Kenny Jeanmonod, Sofia Lydia Ntella, Bhawnath Tiwari

Plantar pressure plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of foot ulcers among patients with diabetes and peripheral polyneuropathy. Pressure relief is a key requirement for both the prevention and treatment of plantar ulcers. Conventional medical practice ...

2024

Valve comprising a body and a mobile piston

Paolo Germano, Christian Köchli, Yves Perriard, Yoan René Cyrille Civet, Sofia Lydia Ntella, Bhawnath Tiwari

The invention concerns a valve comprising a body (11) and a piston (12) movable in the body (11) between two extreme positions. One of the extreme positions is a so-called rest position or closed position and another extreme position is a so-called active ...

2024

Normal Contact Force Estimation Using Deep Learning

Paolo Germano, Yves Perriard, Marc Michel Charles Favier

Small scale ultrasonic piezoelectric actuators performance strongly depends on not well-known contact dynamics. Deep Neural Network (DNN) sees their use in physic simulation growing as their flexibility allows better performance especially when dynamics la ...

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.2024

Inversing the actuation cycle of dielectric elastomer actuators for a facial prosthesis

Paolo Germano, Yves Perriard, Yoan René Cyrille Civet, Alexis Boegli, Thomas Guillaume Martinez, Stefania Maria Aliki Konstantinidi, Quentin Philippe Mario De Menech

Dielectric Elastomer Actuators (DEAs) are a type of smart material described as compliant capacitors. They show impressive performances as soft actuators, such as a high strain and fast response. Nonetheless, replicating natural muscle function with DEAs h ...

Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)2024

Prototyping and Experimental Analysis of Active Offloading Footwear for Patients With Diabetes Using an Array of Magnetorheological Fluid–Based Modules

Paolo Germano, Christian Köchli, Yves Perriard, Yoan René Cyrille Civet, Bhawnath Tiwari

Diabetic foot ulceration is a serious challenge worldwide which imposes an immense risk of lower extremity amputation and in many cases may lead to the death. The presented work focuses on the offloading requirements using an active approach and considers ...

2024

Contact Tip Trajectory in Steady-State Regime Prediction Using Deep Learning for Piezoelectric Actuators

Paolo Germano, Yves Perriard, Marc Michel Charles Favier, Marjan Ghorbani

Including friction modeling in simulation can be challenging and requires time domain simulation, which is time consuming. We propose to separate the friction modelling from the FEA (Finite Element Analysis). The approach is defined for UCM (Ultrasonic Cer ...

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.2024

A Polyester–Nylon Blend Plantar Pressure Sensing Insole for Person With Diabetes

Paolo Germano, Christian Köchli, Yves Perriard, Yoan René Cyrille Civet, Kenny Jeanmonod, Sofia Lydia Ntella, Bhawnath Tiwari

Peripheral sensorimotor neuropathy among people with diabetes is one of the leading causes of foot ulceration. Plantar pressure is a significant parameter to control for the prevention of foot ulceration. A low-cost sensing insole, which can provide a reli ...

2023

Generative Adversarial Networks for Localized Vibrotactile Feedback in Haptic Surfaces

Paolo Germano, Yves Perriard, Jonathan André Jean-Marie Chavanne, Adrien Jean-Michel Thabuis, Camilo Hernandez Mejia, Xiaotao Ren

Touch-screens are the most relevant interface in the context of human-computer interaction. Moreover, they are widely used as interaction means for digital musical instruments, where a complex action-perception loop is involved in the user experience. This ...

IEEE2021

Control-Free Mechanical Oscillator Powered by Shape Memory Alloys

Paolo Germano, Yves Perriard, Sean Thomas, Thomas Guillaume Martinez

Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) based actuators have been commonly used in applications that require being compact and lightweight. In this paper, the inherent stiffness of a flexure-based linear guide is used to create a bias-spring SMA actuator which further re ...

IEEE2021

An untethered mechanically-intelligent inchworm robot powered by a shape memory alloy oscillator

Paolo Germano, Yves Perriard, Sean Thomas, Thomas Guillaume Martinez

Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) based actuators have become ideal candidates for use in compact and lightweight applications. These smart materials have often been referred to as artificial muscles due to their high work volume density. In this paper, a flexure-b ...

2021

Designing compliant mechanisms composed of shape memory alloy and actuated by induction heating

Paolo Germano, Yves Perriard, Sean Thomas, Adrien Jean-Michel Thabuis, Thomas Guillaume Martinez

Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs) are a type of smart materials that reacts mechanically to heat. Due to their complex behavior, they are often used in a simple geometry such as wires. This constrains the output displacement of the alloy to a simple linear contra ...

2021

Reinforcement Learning and Hardware in the Loop for Localized Vibrotactile Feedback in Haptic Surfaces

Paolo Germano, Yves Perriard, Camilo Hernandez Mejia, Xiaotao Ren, Marc Michel Charles Favier

Touch is commonly used to mediate human-machine interactions, notably in the setting of Digital Musical Instruments (DMIs), where touch screens are prevalent. The lack of rich haptic feedback has an impact on the richness and quality of the interaction. Pi ...

IEEE2021

Effect of the Impact Contact Duration on Machine Learning Models for Impact Position Detection

Paolo Germano, Yves Perriard, Jonathan André Jean-Marie Chavanne, Camilo Hernandez Mejia

Touch-screens have become the most common way of interaction between humans and machines. Nevertheless, the lack of rich haptic-feedback on most of the devices limits the quality and effectivity of the interaction. To develop novel haptic feedback generati ...

2020

Artificial Neural Networks for Impact Position Detection in Haptic Surfaces

Paolo Germano, Yves Perriard, Camilo Hernandez Mejia

Recently, the interest in haptic feedback is growing thanks to its ability to enhance the interaction with Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs). This research project is exploring the potential of machine learning combined with piezoelectric actuators to genera ...

IEEE2019

Linear Impact Generator for Automated Dataset Acquisition of Elastic Waves in Haptic Surfaces

Paolo Germano, Yves Perriard, Adrien Jean-Michel Thabuis, Camilo Hernandez Mejia

Tactile surfaces are commonly found on a big number of devices nowadays. Generally, this kind of interfaces lacks haptic feedback, which lowers the efficiency and perceived quality of human interaction. Time reversal of elastic waves has been studied and i ...

IEEE2019

Sensorless Position Detection Framework for a Multi-state Switched Reluctance Actuator of a Textile Machine

Paolo Germano, Yves Perriard, Yoan René Cyrille Civet, Xinchang Liu

Sensorless needle position detection for the actuator of a textile machine is challenging because of its multi current levels used and the transient state when the current changes. A local regression method can be used to represent the variation of inducta ...

IEEE2018

Battery Charger for Electric Vehicles based on a Wireless Power Transmission

Paolo Germano, Yves Perriard

In this paper, the case of a battery charger for electric vehicles based on a wireless power transmission is addressed. The specificity of every stage of the overall system is presented. Based on calculated and measured results, relevant capacitive compens ...

2017

Soft Magnets Implementation using a Stereolithography-based 3D Printer

Paolo Germano, Yves Perriard, Cécile Gisèle Aimée Jeannine Cuchet, Augustin Muster

A wide part of the proposed paper is devoted to designing soft magnets using a stereolithography 3D printer. A state of the art on soft magnetic materials is carried out together with an overview of the existing printing technologies to obtain complex non- ...

2017

Battery Charger for Electric Vehicles based on a Wireless Power Transmission

Paolo Germano, Yves Perriard

In this paper, the case of a battery charger for electric vehicles based on a wireless power transmission is addressed. The specificity of every stage of the overall system is presented. Based on calculated and measured results, relevant capacitive compens ...

Ieee2016