A First Evaluation of a Multi-Modal Learning System to Control Surgical Assistant Robots via Action Segmentation

The next stage for robotics development is to introduce autonomy and cooperation with human agents in tasks that require high levels of precision and/or that exert considerable physical strain. To guarantee the highest possible safety standards, the best approach is to devise a deterministic automaton that performs identically for each operation. Clearly, such approach inevitably fails to adapt itself to changing environments or different human companions. In a surgical scenario, the highest variability happens for the timing of different actions performed within the same phases. This paper presents a cognitive control architecture that uses a multi-modal neural network trained on a cooperative task performed by human surgeons and produces an action segmentation that provides the required timing for actions while maintaining full phase execution control via a deterministic Supervisory Controller and full execution safety by a velocity-constrained Model-Predictive Controller

Technical and Functional Validation of a Teleoperated Multirobots Platform for Minimally Invasive Surgery

Nowadays Robotic assisted Minimally Invasive Surgeries (R-MIS) are the elective procedures for treating highly accurate and scarcely invasive pathologies, thanks to their abil- ity to empower surgeons\u2019 dexterity and skills. The research on new Multi-Robots Surgery (MRS) platform is cardinal to the development of a new SARAS surgical robotic platform, which aims at carrying out autonomously the assistants tasks during R- MIS procedures. In this work, we will present the SARAS MRS platform validation protocol, framed in order to assess: (i) its technical performances in purely dexterity exercises, and (ii) its functional performances. The results obtained show a prototype able to put the users in the condition of accomplishing the tasks requested (both dexterity- and surgical-related), even with rea- sonably lower performances respect to the industrial standard. The main aspects on which further improvements are needed result to be the stability of the end effectors, the depth per- ception and the vision systems, to be enriched with dedicated virtual fixtures. The SARAS\u2019 aim is to reduce the main surgeon\u2019s workload through the automation of assistive tasks which would benefit both surgeons and patients by facilitating the surgery and reducing the operation time

Dynamic motion planning for autonomous assistive surgical robots

The paper addresses the problem of the generation of collision-free trajectories for a robotic manipulator, operating in a scenario in which obstacles may be moving at non-negligible velocities. In particular, the paper aims to present a trajectory generation solution that is fully executable in real-time and that can reactively adapt to both dynamic changes of the environment and fast reconfiguration of the robotic task. The proposed motion planner extends the method based on a dynamical system to cope with the peculiar kinematics of surgical robots for laparoscopic operations, the mechanical constraint being enforced by the fixed point of insertion into the abdomen of the patient the most challenging aspect. The paper includes a validation of the trajectory generator in both simulated and experimental scenarios

PERFORMANCE OF THIN FILM PV MINI-MODULES IN A SUPERSTRATE CONFIGURATION (CdTe) ON GLASS WITH NOVEL FIBRE LASER PROCESSING

A new pulsed laser technique based on Photonic Crystal Fibres (PCF) has been developed and tested within the European funded Alpine project for the improvement, in terms of precision and speed, of the existing scribing technology in PV modules through the usage of high quality beam fiber lasers. In this work we report about the first evaluation of the quality of the scribing process performed by innovative PCF lasers according to the particular patterning steps (P1, P2 and P3) which are applied on CdTe thin film devices realized in superstrate configuration on glass. A comparison with devices prepared with standard scribing technology is presented. The P1, P2, P3 scribing patterning steps have been evaluated separately in this work and devices scribed with the novel laser technology reported clearly either improved characteristics in two cases (P1 and P2 scribing) or worsen characteristics in the case of P3 scribing. In detail devices with P1 and P2 patterning scribed with PCF laser reported an evident improvement in Pmax of slightly above 5% while devices with P3 scribed with the novel laser technology showed a Pmax value about 3% lower than the reference one.JRC.F.7-Renewable Energ

Dynamic Motion Planning for Autonomous Assistive Surgical Robots

The paper addresses the problem of generation of collision-free trajectories for a robotic manipulator, operating in a scenario in which obstacles may be moving at non-negligible velocities. In particular, the paper aims to present a trajectory generation solution that is fully executable in real-time and that can reactively adapt to both dynamic changes of the environment and fast reconfiguration of the robotic task. The proposed motion planner extends the method based on Dynamical System to cope with the peculiar kinematics of surgical robots for laparoscopic operations, being the mechanical constraint enforced by the fixed point of insertion into the abdomen of the patient the most challenging aspect. The paper includes a validation of the trajectory generator in an experimental scenarios

Laser scribing of CIGS based thin films solar cells

Laser scribing tests on CIGS based thin films solar cells have been performed. The obtained high quality incisions show that laser scribing is a valuable tool for producing low-cost photovoltaic modules

A hFSM based cognitive control architecture for assistive task in R-MIS

This paper proposes a control architecture for surgical robotic assistive tasks in MIS using a hierarchical multi-level Finite State Machine (hFSM) as the cognitive control and a two-layered motion planner for the execution of the task. The hFSM models the operation starting from atomic actions to progressively build up more complex levels. The two-layer architecture of the motion planner merges the benefits of an offline geometric path construction method with those of online trajectory reconfiguration and reactive adaptation

Global/local motion planning based on dynamic trajectory reconfiguration and dynamical systems for autonomous surgical robots

This paper addresses the generation of collisionfree trajectories for the autonomous execution of assistive tasks in Robotic Minimally Invasive Surgery (R-MIS). The proposed approach takes into account geometric constraints related to the desired task, like for example the direction to approach the final target and the presence of moving obstacles. The developed motion planner is structured as a two-layer architecture: a global level computes smooth spline-based trajectories that are continuously updated using virtual potential fields; a local level, exploiting Dynamical Systems based obstacle avoidance, ensures collision free connections among the spline control points. The proposed architecture is validated in a realistic surgical scenario.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version