A novel pressure sensor for standardized edema assessment

The National Science Foundation Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems awarded the University of Rhode Island $549,998 on October 1, 2026, under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) to develop a handheld electromechanical device that standardizes peripheral edema assessment. Peripheral edema—swelling caused by fluid trapped in body tissues, often in the legs and ankles—presents a common warning sign for heart failure, kidney disease, and aging. Current clinical assessment relies on subjective finger-pressing tests that yield inconsistent results between clinicians, hindering longitudinal patient monitoring. The device will automate edema assessment through controlled actuation and soft sensing, enabling repeatable, objective measurements to support earlier detection, better care, and future at-home monitoring.

The research addresses three principal aims: resolving pitting indentation depth at the sub-millimeter scale on soft, compliant tissue while managing drift, hysteresis, and contact variability; developing a soft force sensor capturing applied force with high sensitivity in the low-force range relevant to clinical palpation; and designing and testing the integrated edema assessment device as an advanced medical cyber-physical system.

The award runs through September 30, 2029, with place of performance at Kingston, Rhode Island. The project includes workforce development components training graduate and undergraduate students in biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, and mechatronics, with hands-on experience in safety-critical medical device development and outreach activities promoting STEM engagement through point-of-care sensing demonstrations.

Abstract

Peripheral edema is swelling caused by extra fluid trapped in the body's tissues, often in the legs and ankles. IT is a common warning sign for heart failure, kidney disease, and aging. Doctors test for IT by pressing a finger into the skin and judging how deep the impression is and how fast IT rebounds. Because this depends on subjective assessment, results vary between clinicians, making IT hard to track patients over time. This project aims to develop a handheld device that turns this judgment into a repeatable measurement. The device has an electromechanical system that can automate the edema assessment, offering tissue denting through the combination of controlled actuation and soft sensing. Ultimately, the overarching goal is to support earlier detection, better care, and future at-home monitoring of peripheral edema. The project will also contribute to workforce development by training graduate and undergraduate students in multidisciplinary areas spanning biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, and mechatronics. Trainees will gain hands-on experience in developing safety-critical medical systems, preparing them for careers in the rapidly growing health technology sector. Outreach activities will engage students in hands-on demonstrations of handheld and point-of-care sensing technologies, promoting interest in stem fields. The central research and scientific contribution is to design and test the edema assessment device incorporating an advanced medical cyber-physical system (MCPS). The project research is divided into three aims: first, the research challenge is to resolve pitting indentation depth at the sub-millimeter scale on soft, compliant tissue, where subtle skin motion is easily masked by drift, hysteresis, and contact variability. To achieve this, a soft force sensor will be developed that captures applied force with high sensitivity in the low-force range relevant to clinical palpation. The sensor will be characterized and calibrated to establish accuracy, repeatability, and robustness in real-world use. Second, the key challenge for a device-based pitting edema assessment is to regulate contact force safely and precisely at a tissue site that is nonlinear, viscoelastic, and varies from patient to patient. To achieve this, an MCPS will be designed around closed-loop actuation that couples real-time sensor feedback with controlled, motion-limited actuation. Third, the system will undergo staged testing that moves from bench-top experiments to life-like edema phantoms and then to a pilot study in healthy adults and patients with edema. The testing will compare device measurements against traditional clinical grades. This testing is expected to establish the device's feasibility, safety, and usability, to demonstrate measurement repeatability and to generate new datasets of device-derived edema measurements. Overall, the project is expected to generate new engineering knowledge on safe, precise, force-controlled interaction with soft biological tissue. These scientific contributions will advance the fields of soft sensing, medical mechatronics, and MCPS, and lay the foundation for a new class of standardized medical assessment technologies and future clinical translation. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are planned for this award.