{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,2]],"date-time":"2026-06-02T10:49:55Z","timestamp":1780397395831,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,4]],"date-time":"2023-05-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1683158400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Biomimetics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>According to the 2018 National Immunization Survey conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 83.9% of the breastfeeding mothers in the United States have used a breast pump at least once. However, the majority of existing products use a vacuum-only mechanism to extract milk. This causes common breast injuries such as nipple soreness, breast-tissue damage, and lactation complications after pumping. The objective of this work was to develop a bio-inspired breast pump prototype, named as SmartLac8, that can mimic infant suckling patterns. The input vacuum pressure pattern and compression forces are inspired from term infants\u2019 natural oral suckling dynamics captured in prior clinical experiments. Open-loop input\u2013output data are used to perform system identification for two different pumping stages that facilitates controller design for closed-loop stability and control. A physical breast pump prototype with soft pneumatic actuators and custom piezoelectric sensors was successfully developed, calibrated, and tested in dry lab experiments. Compression and vacuum pressure dynamics were successfully coordinated to mimic the infant\u2019s feeding mechanism. Experimental data on sucking frequency and pressure on the breast phantom were consistent with clinical findings.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/biomimetics8020190","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,5]],"date-time":"2023-05-05T01:38:21Z","timestamp":1683250701000},"page":"190","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["SmartLact8: A Bio-Inspired Robotic Breast Pump for Customized and Comfort Milk Expression"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"8","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-4900-199X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yuying","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mechanical Engineering, San Jos\u00e9 State University, San Jose, CA 95192, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marlenne Valadez","family":"Lozano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Engineering, San Jos\u00e9 State University, San Jose, CA 95192, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"David","family":"Pe\u00f1a","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mechanical Engineering, San Jos\u00e9 State University, San Jose, CA 95192, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ish Kumar","family":"Gulati","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Engineering, San Jos\u00e9 State University, San Jose, CA 95192, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3085-9847","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lin","family":"Jiang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mechanical Engineering, San Jos\u00e9 State University, San Jose, CA 95192, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"439","article-title":"Factors associated with weaning in the first 3 months postpartum","volume":"51","author":"Schwartz","year":"2002","journal-title":"J. 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