The object
Ellen Roche innovated a soft robotic cardiac sleeve that mechanically assists ventricular contraction without contacting blood. Wyss documents the device alongside her related catheter and epicardial-delivery inventions, and its 2026 profile records her ongoing cardiac-device development.
What Ellen did
Innovated a non-blood-contacting soft robotic sleeve for mechanical assistance of ventricular contraction.
Why it matters
The sleeve reframed ventricular assist as an externally actuated soft-robotic device rather than a blood-contacting pump, an influential but developmental approach to supporting failing hearts.
Living-status check
A 14 February 2026 Wyss interview identifies Roche as an associate faculty member and MIT professor, describes the sleeve, and records her current development of an ECG-responsive soft-robotic cardiac drug-delivery device.