21,642 research outputs found
EchoFusion: Tracking and Reconstruction of Objects in 4D Freehand Ultrasound Imaging without External Trackers
Ultrasound (US) is the most widely used fetal imaging technique. However, US
images have limited capture range, and suffer from view dependent artefacts
such as acoustic shadows. Compounding of overlapping 3D US acquisitions into a
high-resolution volume can extend the field of view and remove image artefacts,
which is useful for retrospective analysis including population based studies.
However, such volume reconstructions require information about relative
transformations between probe positions from which the individual volumes were
acquired. In prenatal US scans, the fetus can move independently from the
mother, making external trackers such as electromagnetic or optical tracking
unable to track the motion between probe position and the moving fetus. We
provide a novel methodology for image-based tracking and volume reconstruction
by combining recent advances in deep learning and simultaneous localisation and
mapping (SLAM). Tracking semantics are established through the use of a
Residual 3D U-Net and the output is fed to the SLAM algorithm. As a proof of
concept, experiments are conducted on US volumes taken from a whole body fetal
phantom, and from the heads of real fetuses. For the fetal head segmentation,
we also introduce a novel weak annotation approach to minimise the required
manual effort for ground truth annotation. We evaluate our method
qualitatively, and quantitatively with respect to tissue discrimination
accuracy and tracking robustness.Comment: MICCAI Workshop on Perinatal, Preterm and Paediatric Image analysis
(PIPPI), 201
Atlas Toolkit: Fast registration of 3D morphological datasets in the absence of landmarks
Image registration is a gateway technology for Developmental Systems Biology, enabling computational analysis of related datasets within a shared coordinate system. Many registration tools rely on landmarks to ensure that datasets are correctly aligned; yet suitable landmarks are not present in many datasets. Atlas Toolkit is a Fiji/ImageJ plugin collection offering elastic group-wise registration of 3D morphological datasets, guided by segmentation of the interesting morphology. We demonstrate the method by combinatorial mapping of cell signalling events in the developing eyes of chick embryos, and use the integrated datasets to predictively enumerate Gene Regulatory Network states
Multiple Shape Registration using Constrained Optimal Control
Lagrangian particle formulations of the large deformation diffeomorphic
metric mapping algorithm (LDDMM) only allow for the study of a single shape. In
this paper, we introduce and discuss both a theoretical and practical setting
for the simultaneous study of multiple shapes that are either stitched to one
another or slide along a submanifold. The method is described within the
optimal control formalism, and optimality conditions are given, together with
the equations that are needed to implement augmented Lagrangian methods.
Experimental results are provided for stitched and sliding surfaces
AgriColMap: Aerial-Ground Collaborative 3D Mapping for Precision Farming
The combination of aerial survey capabilities of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
with targeted intervention abilities of agricultural Unmanned Ground Vehicles
can significantly improve the effectiveness of robotic systems applied to
precision agriculture. In this context, building and updating a common map of
the field is an essential but challenging task. The maps built using robots of
different types show differences in size, resolution and scale, the associated
geolocation data may be inaccurate and biased, while the repetitiveness of both
visual appearance and geometric structures found within agricultural contexts
render classical map merging techniques ineffective. In this paper we propose
AgriColMap, a novel map registration pipeline that leverages a grid-based
multimodal environment representation which includes a vegetation index map and
a Digital Surface Model. We cast the data association problem between maps
built from UAVs and UGVs as a multimodal, large displacement dense optical flow
estimation. The dominant, coherent flows, selected using a voting scheme, are
used as point-to-point correspondences to infer a preliminary non-rigid
alignment between the maps. A final refinement is then performed, by exploiting
only meaningful parts of the registered maps. We evaluate our system using real
world data for 3 fields with different crop species. The results show that our
method outperforms several state of the art map registration and matching
techniques by a large margin, and has a higher tolerance to large initial
misalignments. We release an implementation of the proposed approach along with
the acquired datasets with this paper.Comment: Published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 201
Augmented Reality-based Feedback for Technician-in-the-loop C-arm Repositioning
Interventional C-arm imaging is crucial to percutaneous orthopedic procedures
as it enables the surgeon to monitor the progress of surgery on the anatomy
level. Minimally invasive interventions require repeated acquisition of X-ray
images from different anatomical views to verify tool placement. Achieving and
reproducing these views often comes at the cost of increased surgical time and
radiation dose to both patient and staff. This work proposes a marker-free
"technician-in-the-loop" Augmented Reality (AR) solution for C-arm
repositioning. The X-ray technician operating the C-arm interventionally is
equipped with a head-mounted display capable of recording desired C-arm poses
in 3D via an integrated infrared sensor. For C-arm repositioning to a
particular target view, the recorded C-arm pose is restored as a virtual object
and visualized in an AR environment, serving as a perceptual reference for the
technician. We conduct experiments in a setting simulating orthopedic trauma
surgery. Our proof-of-principle findings indicate that the proposed system can
decrease the 2.76 X-ray images required per desired view down to zero,
suggesting substantial reductions of radiation dose during C-arm repositioning.
The proposed AR solution is a first step towards facilitating communication
between the surgeon and the surgical staff, improving the quality of surgical
image acquisition, and enabling context-aware guidance for surgery rooms of the
future. The concept of technician-in-the-loop design will become relevant to
various interventions considering the expected advancements of sensing and
wearable computing in the near future
Optical techniques for 3D surface reconstruction in computer-assisted laparoscopic surgery
One of the main challenges for computer-assisted surgery (CAS) is to determine the intra-opera- tive morphology and motion of soft-tissues. This information is prerequisite to the registration of multi-modal patient-specific data for enhancing the surgeon’s navigation capabilites by observ- ing beyond exposed tissue surfaces and for providing intelligent control of robotic-assisted in- struments. In minimally invasive surgery (MIS), optical techniques are an increasingly attractive approach for in vivo 3D reconstruction of the soft-tissue surface geometry. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art methods for optical intra-operative 3D reconstruction in laparoscopic surgery and discusses the technical challenges and future perspectives towards clinical translation. With the recent paradigm shift of surgical practice towards MIS and new developments in 3D opti- cal imaging, this is a timely discussion about technologies that could facilitate complex CAS procedures in dynamic and deformable anatomical regions
Entry and access : how shareability comes about
Shareability is a design principle that refers to how a system, interface, or device engages a group of collocated, co-present users in shared interactions around the same content (or the same object). This is broken down in terms of a set of components that facilitate or constrain the way an interface (or product) is made shareable. Central are the notions of access points and entry points. Entry points invite and entice people into engagement, providing an advance overview, minimal barriers, and a honeypot effect that draws observers into the activity. Access points enable users to join a group's activity, allowing perceptual and manipulative access and fluidity of sharing. We show how these terms can be useful for informing analysis and empirical research
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