30 research outputs found

    Smart Camera Robotic Assistant for Laparoscopic Surgery

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    The cognitive architecture also includes learning mechanisms to adapt the behavior of the robot to the different ways of working of surgeons, and to improve the robot behavior through experience, in a similar way as a human assistant would do. The theoretical concepts of this dissertation have been validated both through in-vitro experimentation in the labs of medical robotics of the University of Malaga and through in-vivo experimentation with pigs in the IACE Center (Instituto Andaluz de Cirugía Experimental), performed by expert surgeons.In the last decades, laparoscopic surgery has become a daily practice in operating rooms worldwide, which evolution is tending towards less invasive techniques. In this scenario, robotics has found a wide field of application, from slave robotic systems that replicate the movements of the surgeon to autonomous robots able to assist the surgeon in certain maneuvers or to perform autonomous surgical tasks. However, these systems require the direct supervision of the surgeon, and its capacity of making decisions and adapting to dynamic environments is very limited. This PhD dissertation presents the design and implementation of a smart camera robotic assistant to collaborate with the surgeon in a real surgical environment. First, it presents the design of a novel camera robotic assistant able to augment the capacities of current vision systems. This robotic assistant is based on an intra-abdominal camera robot, which is completely inserted into the patient’s abdomen and it can be freely moved along the abdominal cavity by means of magnetic interaction with an external magnet. To provide the camera with the autonomy of motion, the external magnet is coupled to the end effector of a robotic arm, which controls the shift of the camera robot along the abdominal wall. This way, the robotic assistant proposed in this dissertation has six degrees of freedom, which allow providing a wider field of view compared to the traditional vision systems, and also to have different perspectives of the operating area. On the other hand, the intelligence of the system is based on a cognitive architecture specially designed for autonomous collaboration with the surgeon in real surgical environments. The proposed architecture simulates the behavior of a human assistant, with a natural and intuitive human-robot interface for the communication between the robot and the surgeon

    Hand eye coordination in surgery

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    The coordination of the hand in response to visual target selection has always been regarded as an essential quality in a range of professional activities. This quality has thus far been elusive to objective scientific measurements, and is usually engulfed in the overall performance of the individuals. Parallels can be drawn to surgery, especially Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS), where the physical constraints imposed by the arrangements of the instruments and visualisation methods require certain coordination skills that are unprecedented. With the current paradigm shift towards early specialisation in surgical training and shortened focused training time, selection process should identify trainees with the highest potentials in certain specific skills. Although significant effort has been made in objective assessment of surgical skills, it is only currently possible to measure surgeons’ abilities at the time of assessment. It has been particularly difficult to quantify specific details of hand-eye coordination and assess innate ability of future skills development. The purpose of this thesis is to examine hand-eye coordination in laboratory-based simulations, with a particular emphasis on details that are important to MIS. In order to understand the challenges of visuomotor coordination, movement trajectory errors have been used to provide an insight into the innate coordinate mapping of the brain. In MIS, novel spatial transformations, due to a combination of distorted endoscopic image projections and the “fulcrum” effect of the instruments, accentuate movement generation errors. Obvious differences in the quality of movement trajectories have been observed between novices and experts in MIS, however, this is difficult to measure quantitatively. A Hidden Markov Model (HMM) is used in this thesis to reveal the underlying characteristic movement details of a particular MIS manoeuvre and how such features are exaggerated by the introduction of rotation in the endoscopic camera. The proposed method has demonstrated the feasibility of measuring movement trajectory quality by machine learning techniques without prior arbitrary classification of expertise. Experimental results have highlighted these changes in novice laparoscopic surgeons, even after a short period of training. The intricate relationship between the hands and the eyes changes when learning a skilled visuomotor task has been previously studied. Reactive eye movement, when visual input is used primarily as a feedback mechanism for error correction, implies difficulties in hand-eye coordination. As the brain learns to adapt to this new coordinate map, eye movements then become predictive of the action generated. The concept of measuring this spatiotemporal relationship is introduced as a measure of hand-eye coordination in MIS, by comparing the Target Distance Function (TDF) between the eye fixation and the instrument tip position on the laparoscopic screen. Further validation of this concept using high fidelity experimental tasks is presented, where higher cognitive influence and multiple target selection increase the complexity of the data analysis. To this end, Granger-causality is presented as a measure of the predictability of the instrument movement with the eye fixation pattern. Partial Directed Coherence (PDC), a frequency-domain variation of Granger-causality, is used for the first time to measure hand-eye coordination. Experimental results are used to establish the strengths and potential pitfalls of the technique. To further enhance the accuracy of this measurement, a modified Jensen-Shannon Divergence (JSD) measure has been developed for enhancing the signal matching algorithm and trajectory segmentations. The proposed framework incorporates high frequency noise filtering, which represents non-purposeful hand and eye movements. The accuracy of the technique has been demonstrated by quantitative measurement of multiple laparoscopic tasks by expert and novice surgeons. Experimental results supporting visual search behavioural theory are presented, as this underpins the target selection process immediately prior to visual motor action generation. The effects of specialisation and experience on visual search patterns are also examined. Finally, pilot results from functional brain imaging are presented, where the Posterior Parietal Cortical (PPC) activation is measured using optical spectroscopy techniques. PPC has been demonstrated to involve in the calculation of the coordinate transformations between the visual and motor systems, which establishes the possibilities of exciting future studies in hand-eye coordination

    Proceedings, MSVSCC 2012

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    Proceedings of the 6th Annual Modeling, Simulation & Visualization Student Capstone Conference held on April 19, 2012 at VMASC in Suffolk, Virginia

    State-based Safety of Component-based Medical and Surgical Robot Systems

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    Safety has not received sufficient attention in the medical robotics community despite a consensus of its paramount importance and the pioneering work in the early 90s. Partly because of its emergent and non-functional characteristics, it is challenging to capture and represent the design of safety features in a consistent, structured manner. In addition, significant engineering efforts are required in practice when designing and developing medical robot systems with safety. Still, academic researchers in medical robotics have to deal with safety to perform clinical studies. This dissertation presents the concept, model and architecture to reformulate safety as a visible, reusable, and verifiable property, rather than an embedded, hard-to-reuse, and hard-to-test property that is tightly coupled with the system. The concept enables reuse and structured understanding of the design of safety features, and the model allows the system designers to explicitly define and capture the run-time status of component-based systems with support for error propagation. The architecture leverages the benefits of the concept and the model by decomposing safety features into reusable mechanisms and configurable specifications. We show the concept and feasibility of the proposed methods by building an open source framework that aims to facilitate research and development of safety systems of medical robots. Using the cisst component-based framework, we empirically evaluate the proposed methods by applying the developed framework to two research systems -- one based on a commercial robot system for orthopedic surgery and another robot soon to be clinically applied for manipulation of flexible endoscopes

    Systems Engineering: Availability and Reliability

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    Current trends in Industry 4.0 are largely related to issues of reliability and availability. As a result of these trends and the complexity of engineering systems, research and development in this area needs to focus on new solutions in the integration of intelligent machines or systems, with an emphasis on changes in production processes aimed at increasing production efficiency or equipment reliability. The emergence of innovative technologies and new business models based on innovation, cooperation networks, and the enhancement of endogenous resources is assumed to be a strong contribution to the development of competitive economies all around the world. Innovation and engineering, focused on sustainability, reliability, and availability of resources, have a key role in this context. The scope of this Special Issue is closely associated to that of the ICIE’2020 conference. This conference and journal’s Special Issue is to present current innovations and engineering achievements of top world scientists and industrial practitioners in the thematic areas related to reliability and risk assessment, innovations in maintenance strategies, production process scheduling, management and maintenance or systems analysis, simulation, design and modelling

    Technology 2004, Vol. 2

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    Proceedings from symposia of the Technology 2004 Conference, November 8-10, 1994, Washington, DC. Volume 2 features papers on computers and software, virtual reality simulation, environmental technology, video and imaging, medical technology and life sciences, robotics and artificial intelligence, and electronics

    PRELIMINARY FINDINGS OF A POTENZIATED PIEZOSURGERGICAL DEVICE AT THE RABBIT SKULL

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    The number of available ultrasonic osteotomes has remarkably increased. In vitro and in vivo studies have revealed differences between conventional osteotomes, such as rotating or sawing devices, and ultrasound-supported osteotomes (Piezosurgery®) regarding the micromorphology and roughness values of osteotomized bone surfaces. Objective: the present study compares the micro-morphologies and roughness values of osteotomized bone surfaces after the application of rotating and sawing devices, Piezosurgery Medical® and Piezosurgery Medical New Generation Powerful Handpiece. Methods: Fresh, standard-sized bony samples were taken from a rabbit skull using the following osteotomes: rotating and sawing devices, Piezosurgery Medical® and a Piezosurgery Medical New Generation Powerful Handpiece. The required duration of time for each osteotomy was recorded. Micromorphologies and roughness values to characterize the bone surfaces following the different osteotomy methods were described. The prepared surfaces were examined via light microscopy, environmental surface electron microscopy (ESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and atomic force microscopy. The selective cutting of mineralized tissues while preserving adjacent soft tissue (dura mater and nervous tissue) was studied. Bone necrosis of the osteotomy sites and the vitality of the osteocytes near the sectional plane were investigated, as well as the proportion of apoptosis or cell degeneration. Results and Conclusions: The potential positive effects on bone healing and reossification associated with different devices were evaluated and the comparative analysis among the different devices used was performed, in order to determine the best osteotomes to be employed during cranio-facial surgery

    Infective/inflammatory disorders

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    The radiological investigation of musculoskeletal tumours : chairperson's introduction

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