Robotic System Development for Precision MRI-Guided Needle-Based Interventions

This dissertation describes the development of a methodology for implementing robotic systems for interventional procedures under intraoperative Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) guidance. MRI is an ideal imaging modality for surgical guidance of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, thanks to its ability to perform high resolution, real-time, and high soft tissue contrast imaging without ionizing radiation. However, the strong magnetic field and sensitivity to radio frequency signals, as well as tightly confined scanner bore render great challenges to developing robotic systems within MRI environment. Discussed are potential solutions to address engineering topics related to development of MRI-compatible electro-mechanical systems and modeling of steerable needle interventions. A robotic framework is developed based on a modular design approach, supporting varying MRI-guided interventional procedures, with stereotactic neurosurgery and prostate cancer therapy as two driving exemplary applications. A piezoelectrically actuated electro-mechanical system is designed to provide precise needle placement in the bore of the scanner under interactive MRI-guidance, while overcoming the challenges inherent to MRI-guided procedures. This work presents the development of the robotic system in the aspects of requirements definition, clinical work flow development, mechanism optimization, control system design and experimental evaluation. A steerable needle is beneficial for interventional procedures with its capability to produce curved path, avoiding anatomical obstacles or compensating for needle placement errors. Two kinds of steerable needles are discussed, i.e. asymmetric-tip needle and concentric-tube cannula. A novel Gaussian-based ContinUous Rotation and Variable-curvature (CURV) model is proposed to steer asymmetric-tip needle, which enables variable curvature of the needle trajectory with independent control of needle rotation and insertion. While concentric-tube cannula is suitable for clinical applications where a curved trajectory is needed without relying on tissue interaction force. This dissertation addresses fundamental challenges in developing and deploying MRI-compatible robotic systems, and enables the technologies for MRI-guided needle-based interventions. This study applied and evaluated these techniques to a system for prostate biopsy that is currently in clinical trials, developed a neurosurgery robot prototype for interstitial thermal therapy of brain cancer under MRI guidance, and demonstrated needle steering using both asymmetric tip and pre-bent concentric-tube cannula approaches on a testbed

Complementary Situational Awareness for an Intelligent Telerobotic Surgical Assistant System

Robotic surgical systems have contributed greatly to the advancement of Minimally Invasive Surgeries (MIS). More specifically, telesurgical robots have provided enhanced dexterity to surgeons performing MIS procedures. However, current robotic teleoperated systems have only limited situational awareness of the patient anatomy and surgical environment that would typically be available to a surgeon in an open surgery. Although the endoscopic view enhances the visualization of the anatomy, perceptual understanding of the environment and anatomy is still lacking due to the absence of sensory feedback. In this work, these limitations are addressed by developing a computational framework to provide Complementary Situational Awareness (CSA) in a surgical assistant. This framework aims at improving the human-robot relationship by providing elaborate guidance and sensory feedback capabilities for the surgeon in complex MIS procedures. Unlike traditional teleoperation, this framework enables the user to telemanipulate the situational model in a virtual environment and uses that information to command the slave robot with appropriate admittance gains and environmental constraints. Simultaneously, the situational model is updated based on interaction of the slave robot with the task space environment. However, developing such a system to provide real-time situational awareness requires that many technical challenges be met. To estimate intraoperative organ information continuous palpation primitives are required. Intraoperative surface information needs to be estimated in real-time while the organ is being palpated/scanned. The model of the task environment needs to be updated in near real-time using the estimated organ geometry so that the force-feedback applied on the surgeon's hand would correspond to the actual location of the model. This work presents a real-time framework that meets these requirements/challenges to provide situational awareness of the environment in the task space. Further, visual feedback is also provided for the surgeon/developer to view the near video frame rate updates of the task model. All these functions are executed in parallel and need to have a synchronized data exchange. The system is very portable and can be incorporated to any existing telerobotic platforms with minimal overhead

Medical robots with potential applications in participatory and opportunistic remote sensing: A review

Among numerous applications of medical robotics, this paper concentrates on the design, optimal use and maintenance of the related technologies in the context of healthcare, rehabilitation and assistive robotics, and provides a comprehensive review of the latest advancements in the foregoing field of science and technology, while extensively dealing with the possible applications of participatory and opportunistic mobile sensing in the aforementioned domains. The main motivation for the latter choice is the variety of such applications in the settings having partial contributions to functionalities such as artery, radiosurgery, neurosurgery and vascular intervention. From a broad perspective, the aforementioned applications can be realized via various strategies and devices benefiting from detachable drives, intelligent robots, human-centric sensing and computing, miniature and micro-robots. Throughout the paper tens of subjects, including sensor-fusion, kinematic, dynamic and 3D tissue models are discussed based on the existing literature on the state-of-the-art technologies. In addition, from a managerial perspective, topics such as safety monitoring, security, privacy and evolutionary optimization of the operational efficiency are reviewed

A Review of Pneumatic Actuators Used for the Design of Medical Simulators and Medical Tools

International audienc

Automated NDT inspection for large and complex geometries of composite materials

Large components with complex geometries, made of composite materials, have become very common in modern structures. To cope with future demand projections, it is necessary to overcome the current non-destructive testing (NDT) bottlenecks encountered during the inspection phase of manufacture. This thesis investigates several aspects of the introduction of automation within the inspection process of complex parts. The use of six-axis robots for product inspection and non-destructive testing systems is the central investigation of this thesis. The challenges embraced by the research include the development of a novel controlling approach for robotic manipulators and of novel path-planning strategies. The integration of robot manipulators and NDT data acquisition instruments is optimized. An effective and reliable way to encode the NDT data through the interpolated robot feedback positions is implemented. The viability of the new external control method is evaluated experimentally. The observed maximum position and orientation errors are respectively within 2mm and within 1 degree, over an operating envelope of 3m³. A new software toolbox (RoboNDT), aimed at NDT technicians, has been developed during this work. RoboNDT is intended to transform the robot path-planning problem into an easy step of the inspection process. The software incorporates the novel path-planning algorithms developed during this research and is shaped to overcome practical limitations of current OLP software. The software has been experimentally validated using scans on real high value aerospace components. RoboNDT delivers tool-path errors that are lower than the errors given by commercial off-line path-planning software. For example the variability of the standoff is within 10 mm for the tool-paths created with the commercial software and within 4.5 mm for the RoboNDT tool-paths, over a scanned area of 1.6m². The output of this research was used to support a 3-year industrial project, called IntACom and led by TWI on behalf of major aerospace sponsors. The result is a demonstrator system, currently in use at TWI Technology Centre, which is capable of inspecting complex geometries with high throughput. The IntACom system can scan real components 2.8 times faster than traditional 3-DoF scanners deploying phased-array inspection and 6.7 times faster than commercial gantry systems deploying traditional single-element inspection.Large components with complex geometries, made of composite materials, have become very common in modern structures. To cope with future demand projections, it is necessary to overcome the current non-destructive testing (NDT) bottlenecks encountered during the inspection phase of manufacture. This thesis investigates several aspects of the introduction of automation within the inspection process of complex parts. The use of six-axis robots for product inspection and non-destructive testing systems is the central investigation of this thesis. The challenges embraced by the research include the development of a novel controlling approach for robotic manipulators and of novel path-planning strategies. The integration of robot manipulators and NDT data acquisition instruments is optimized. An effective and reliable way to encode the NDT data through the interpolated robot feedback positions is implemented. The viability of the new external control method is evaluated experimentally. The observed maximum position and orientation errors are respectively within 2mm and within 1 degree, over an operating envelope of 3m³. A new software toolbox (RoboNDT), aimed at NDT technicians, has been developed during this work. RoboNDT is intended to transform the robot path-planning problem into an easy step of the inspection process. The software incorporates the novel path-planning algorithms developed during this research and is shaped to overcome practical limitations of current OLP software. The software has been experimentally validated using scans on real high value aerospace components. RoboNDT delivers tool-path errors that are lower than the errors given by commercial off-line path-planning software. For example the variability of the standoff is within 10 mm for the tool-paths created with the commercial software and within 4.5 mm for the RoboNDT tool-paths, over a scanned area of 1.6m². The output of this research was used to support a 3-year industrial project, called IntACom and led by TWI on behalf of major aerospace sponsors. The result is a demonstrator system, currently in use at TWI Technology Centre, which is capable of inspecting complex geometries with high throughput. The IntACom system can scan real components 2.8 times faster than traditional 3-DoF scanners deploying phased-array inspection and 6.7 times faster than commercial gantry systems deploying traditional single-element inspection

From Concept to Market: Surgical Robot Development

Surgical robotics and supporting technologies have really become a prime example of modern applied information technology infiltrating our everyday lives. The development of these systems spans across four decades, and only the last few years brought the market value and saw the rising customer base imagined already by the early developers. This chapter guides through the historical development of the most important systems, and provide references and lessons learnt for current engineers facing similar challenges. A special emphasis is put on system validation, assessment and clearance, as the most commonly cited barrier hindering the wider deployment of a system

Review of robotic technology for keyhole transcranial stereotactic neurosurgery

The research of stereotactic apparatus to guide surgical devices began in 1908, yet a major part of today's stereotactic neurosurgeries still rely on stereotactic frames developed almost half a century ago. Robots excel at handling spatial information, and are, thus, obvious candidates in the guidance of instrumentation along precisely planned trajectories. In this review, we introduce the concept of stereotaxy and describe a standard stereotactic neurosurgery. Neurosurgeons' expectations and demands regarding the role of robots as assistive tools are also addressed. We list the most successful robotic systems developed specifically for or capable of executing stereotactic neurosurgery. A critical review is presented for each robotic system, emphasizing the differences between them and detailing positive features and drawbacks. An analysis of the listed robotic system features is also undertaken, in the context of robotic application in stereotactic neurosurgery. Finally, we discuss the current perspective, and future directions of a robotic technology in this field. All robotic systems follow a very similar and structured workflow despite the technical differences that set them apart. No system unequivocally stands out as an absolute best. The trend of technological progress is pointing toward the development of miniaturized cost-effective solutions with more intuitive interfaces.This work has been partially financed by the NETT Project (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-ITN-289146), ACTIVE Project (FP7-ICT-2009-6-270460), and FCT PhD grant (ref. SFRH/BD/86499/2012)

NASA space station automation: AI-based technology review

Research and Development projects in automation for the Space Station are discussed. Artificial Intelligence (AI) based automation technologies are planned to enhance crew safety through reduced need for EVA, increase crew productivity through the reduction of routine operations, increase space station autonomy, and augment space station capability through the use of teleoperation and robotics. AI technology will also be developed for the servicing of satellites at the Space Station, system monitoring and diagnosis, space manufacturing, and the assembly of large space structures

Image-Guided Robot-Assisted Techniques with Applications in Minimally Invasive Therapy and Cell Biology

There are several situations where tasks can be performed better robotically rather than manually. Among these are situations (a) where high accuracy and robustness are required, (b) where difficult or hazardous working conditions exist, and (c) where very large or very small motions or forces are involved. Recent advances in technology have resulted in smaller size robots with higher accuracy and reliability. As a result, robotics is fi nding more and more applications in Biomedical Engineering. Medical Robotics and Cell Micro-Manipulation are two of these applications involving interaction with delicate living organs at very di fferent scales.Availability of a wide range of imaging modalities from ultrasound and X-ray fluoroscopy to high magni cation optical microscopes, makes it possible to use imaging as a powerful means to guide and control robot manipulators. This thesis includes three parts focusing on three applications of Image-Guided Robotics in biomedical engineering, including: Vascular Catheterization: a robotic system was developed to insert a catheter through the vasculature and guide it to a desired point via visual servoing. The system provides shared control with the operator to perform a task semi-automatically or through master-slave control. The system provides control of a catheter tip with high accuracy while reducing X-ray exposure to the clinicians and providing a more ergonomic situation for the cardiologists. Cardiac Catheterization: a master-slave robotic system was developed to perform accurate control of a steerable catheter to touch and ablate faulty regions on the inner walls of a beating heart in order to treat arrhythmia. The system facilitates touching and making contact with a target point in a beating heart chamber through master-slave control with coordinated visual feedback. Live Neuron Micro-Manipulation: a microscope image-guided robotic system was developed to provide shared control over multiple micro-manipulators to touch cell membranes in order to perform patch clamp electrophysiology. Image-guided robot-assisted techniques with master-slave control were implemented for each case to provide shared control between a human operator and a robot. The results show increased accuracy and reduced operation time in all three cases

Medical Robotics

The first generation of surgical robots are already being installed in a number of operating rooms around the world. Robotics is being introduced to medicine because it allows for unprecedented control and precision of surgical instruments in minimally invasive procedures. So far, robots have been used to position an endoscope, perform gallbladder surgery and correct gastroesophogeal reflux and heartburn. The ultimate goal of the robotic surgery field is to design a robot that can be used to perform closed-chest, beating-heart surgery. The use of robotics in surgery will expand over the next decades without any doubt. Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) is a revolutionary approach in surgery. In MIS, the operation is performed with instruments and viewing equipment inserted into the body through small incisions created by the surgeon, in contrast to open surgery with large incisions. This minimizes surgical trauma and damage to healthy tissue, resulting in shorter patient recovery time. The aim of this book is to provide an overview of the state-of-art, to present new ideas, original results and practical experiences in this expanding area. Nevertheless, many chapters in the book concern advanced research on this growing area. The book provides critical analysis of clinical trials, assessment of the benefits and risks of the application of these technologies. This book is certainly a small sample of the research activity on Medical Robotics going on around the globe as you read it, but it surely covers a good deal of what has been done in the field recently, and as such it works as a valuable source for researchers interested in the involved subjects, whether they are currently “medical roboticists” or not