Robot arm placements are oftentimes a limitation in surgical preoperative procedures, relying on trained staff to evaluate and decide on the optimal positions for the arms. Given new and different patient anatomies, it can be challenging to make an informed choice, leading to more frequently colliding arms or limited manipulator workspaces. In this paper, we develop a method to generate the optimal manipulator base positions for the multi-port da Vinci surgical system that minimizes self-collision and environment-collision, and maximizes the surgeon's reachability inside the patient. Scoring functions are defined for each criterion so that they may be optimized over. Since for multi-manipulator setups, a large number of free parameters are available to adjust the base positioning of each arm, a challenge becomes how one can expediently assess possible setups. We thus also propose methods that perform fast queries of each measure with the use of a proxy collision-checker. We then develop an optimization method to determine the optimal position using the scoring functions. We evaluate the optimality of the base positions for the robot arms on canonical trajectories, and show that the solution yielded by the optimization program can satisfy each criterion. The metrics and optimization strategy are generalizable to other surgical robotic platforms so that patient-side manipulator positioning may be optimized and solved.
Queensland University of Technology（昆士兰科技大学）；Australian Centre for Robotic Vision（澳大利亚机器人视觉中心）；University of New South Wales（新南威尔士大学）
Tendon-driven snake-like arms have been used to create highly dexterous continuum robots so that they can bend around anatomical obstacles to access clinical targets. In this paper, we propose a design algorithm for developing patient-specific surgical continuum manipulators optimized for oriental dexterity constrained by task-space obstacles. The algorithm uses a sampling-based approach to finding the dexterity distribution in the workspace discretized by voxels. The oriental dexterity measured in the region of interest in the task-space formed a fitness function to be optimized through diffe…
Prismatic-Bending Transformable (PBT) Joint for a Modular, Foldable Manipulator with Enhanced Reachability and Dexterity
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校机械工程系）；The Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong（香港中文大学机械与自动化工程系）；FANUC Advanced Research Laboratory, FANUC America Corporation, USA（FANUC美国公司先进研究实验室）
Traditionally, cardiac surgery has been performed through a median sternotomy, which allows the surgeon generous access to the heart and surrounding great vessels. As a paradigm shift in the size and location of incisions occurs in cardiac surgery, new methods have been developed to allow the surgeon the same amount of dexterity and accessibility to the heart in confined spaces and in a less invasive manner. Initially, long instruments without pivot points were used, however, more recent robotic telemanipulation systems have been applied that allow for improved dexterity, enabling the surgeon …
NUS (Suzhou) Research Institute (NUSRI)（新加坡国立大学（苏州）研究院（NUSRI））
Gastrointestinal endoscopic surgery (GES) has high requirements for instruments' size and distal dexterity, because of the narrow endoscopic channel and long, tortuous human gastrointestinal tract. This paper utilized Nickel-Titanium (NiTi) wires to develop a miniature 3-DoF (pitch-yaw-translation) flexible parallel robotic wrist (FPRW). Additionally, we assembled an electric knife on the wrist's connection interface and then teleoperated it to perform an endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) on porcine stomachs. The effective performance in each ESD workflow proves that the designed FPRW has…
Digital Surgery Limited（数字手术有限公司）；University College London（伦敦大学学院）；Kasetsart University（泰国农业大学）
Robotic surgery and novel surgical instrumentation present great potentials towards safer, more accurate and consistent minimally invasive surgery. However, their adoption is dependent to the access to training facilities and extensive surgical training. Robotic instruments require different dexterity skills compared to open or laparoscopic. Surgeons, therefore, are required to invest significant time by attending extensive training programs. Contrary, hands on experiences represent an additional operational cost for hospitals as the availability of robotic systems for training purposes is lim…
Master control console is a place where robots collaborate with humans in a shared environment. To this end, ergonomics is an important aspect to be considered. With ergonomic design, the surgeons can feel more comfortable to conduct the surgical tasks with higher efficiency, and the quality of the teleoperated robotic surgery can be improved. In this paper, an Ergonomic Interaction Workspace Analysis method is proposed to optimize master manipulators and fulfil ergonomics consideration for designing a master manipulator for teleoperated robotic surgery.
Gastrointestinal (GI) cancers account for 1.5 million deaths worldwide. Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection (ESD) is an advanced therapeutic endoscopy technique with superior clinical outcome due to the minimally invasive and en bloc removal of tumours. In the western world, ESD is seldom carried out, due to its complex and challenging nature. Various surgical systems are being developed to make this therapy accessible, however, these solutions have shown limited operational workspace, dexterity, or low force exertion capabilities. The current paper shows the ESD CYCLOPS system, a bimanual surgic…
Institut de Recherche en Communications et Cybernétique de Nantes（南特通信与控制研究所）；CNRS（法国国家科学研究中心）
This paper deals with the comparison of planar parallel manipulator architectures based on a multi-objective design optimization approach. The manipulator architectures are compared with regard to their mass in motion and their regular workspace size, i.e., the objective functions. The optimization problem is subject to constraints on the manipulator dexterity and stiffness. For a given external wrench, the displacements of the moving platform have to be smaller than given values throughout the obtained maximum regular dexterous workspace. The contributions of the paper are highlighted with th…
Robotic sensorimotor extensions (supernumerary limbs, prosthesis, handheld tools) are worn devices used to interact with the nearby environment, whether to assist the capabilities of impaired users or to enhance the dexterity of industrial operators. Despite numerous mechanical achievements, embedding these robotics devices remains critical due to their weight and discomfort. To emancipate from these mechanical constraints, we propose a new hybrid system using a virtually worn robotic arm in augmented-reality, and a real robotic manipulator servoed on such virtual representation. We aim at bri…
Aerial robotic systems have raised emerging interests in recent years. In this article, we propose a novel aerial manipulator system that is significantly different from conventional aerial discrete manipulators: An Aerial Continuum Manipulator (AeCoM). The AeCoM compactly integrates a quadrotor with a tendon-driven continuum robotic manipulator. Due to the compact design and the payload bearing ability of tendon-driven continuum robotic arms, the proposed system solved the conflict between payload capacity and dexterity lying in conventional aerial manipulators. Two contributions are made in …
Multi-function Robotized Surgical Dissector for Endoscopic Pulmonary Thromboendarterectomy: Preclinical Study and Evaluation
West China Hospital of Medicine, Sichuan University（四川大学华西医学中心）；School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China（电子科技大学机械与电子工程学院）
Design, implementation, and machine learning issues associated with developing a control system for a serpentine robotic manipulator are explored. The controller developed provides autonomous control of the serpentine robotic manipulatorduring operation of the manipulator within an enclosed environment such as an underground storage tank. The controller algorithms make use of both low-level joint angle control employing force/position feedback constraints, and high-level coordinated control of end-effector positioning. This approach has resulted in both high-level full robotic control and low-…
Vitreoretinal surgery is challenging even for expert surgeons owing to the delicate target tissues and the diminutive workspace in the retina. In addition to improved dexterity and accuracy, robot assistance allows for (partial) task automation. In this work, we propose a strategy to automate the motion of the light guide with respect to the surgical instrument. This automation allows the instrument's shadow to always be inside the microscopic view, which is an important cue for the accurate positioning of the instrument in the retina. We show simulations and experiments demonstrating that the…
An Experimental Study of Downwash Effects on a Continuum Manipulator Integrated with a Multirotor UAV
Queensland University of Technology (QUT)（昆士兰科技大学）；QUT Centre for Robotics（昆士兰科技大学机器人中心）；Research Engineering Facility (REF)（研究工程设施）；School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics（电气工程与机器人学院）
Stable Tracking-in-the-Loop Control of Cable-Driven Surgical Manipulators under Erroneous Kinematic Chains
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California San Diego（电子工程与计算机科学系，加州大学圣地亚哥分校）；Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Tennessee Knoxville（电子工程与计算机科学系，田纳西大学基洛纳分校）
An innovative mixed reality approach for Robotics Surgery
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca（克卢日-纳波卡技术大学）；Nantes Université（南特大学）；École Centrale Nantes（南特中央理工学院）；CNRS（法国国家科学研究中心）；LS2N（南特数字科学实验室）；Technical Sciences Academy of Romania（罗马尼亚技术科学院）
This paper introduces a new surgical end-effector probe, which allows to accurately apply a contact force on a tissue, while at the same time allowing for high resolution and highly repeatable probe movement. These are achieved by implementing a cable-driven parallel manipulator arrangement, which is deployed at the distal-end of a robotic instrument. The combination of the offered qualities can be advantageous in several ways, with possible applications including: large area endomicroscopy and multi-spectral imaging, micro-surgery, tissue palpation, safe energy-based and conventional tissue r…
Robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has enabled procedures with increased precision and dexterity, but surgical robots are still open loop and require surgeons to work with a tele-operation console providing only limited visual feedback. In this setting, mechanical failures, software faults, or human errors might lead to adverse events resulting in patient complications or fatalities. We argue that impending adverse events could be detected and mitigated by applying context-specific safety constraints on the motions of the robot. We present a context-aware safety monitoring syste…
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering（机械与航空航天工程学院）
The human-machine interface is of critical importance for master-slave control of the robotic system for surgery, in which current systems offer the control or two robotic arms teleoperated by the surgeon's hands. To relax the need for surgical assistants and augment dexterity in surgery, it has been recently proposed to use a robot like a third arm that can be controlled seamlessly, independently from the natural arms, and work together with them. This report will develop and investigate this concept by implementing foot control of a robotic surgical arm. A novel passive haptic foot-machine i…
Ultra-slender Coaxial Antagonistic Tubular Robot for Ambidextrous Manipulation
West China Hospital of Medicine, Sichuan University（四川大学华西医学院）；Shien-Ming Wu School of Intelligent Engineering, South China University of Technology（华南理工大学伍舜明智能工程学院）；School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China（电子科技大学机械与电气工程学院）；School of Mechanical Engineering, Sichuan University（四川大学机械工程学院）；Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) Hong Kong Institute of Science and Innovation, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院香港创新研究院人工智能与机器人中心）
Many have explored the application of continuum robot manipulators for minimally invasive surgery, and have successfully demonstrated the advantages their flexible design provides -- with some solutions having reached commercialisation and clinical practice. However, the usual high complexity and closed-nature of such designs has traditionally restricted the shared development of continuum robots across the research area, thus impacting further progress and the solution of open challenges. In order to close this gap, this paper introduces ENDO, an open-source 3-segment continuum robot manipula…
Advancing Minimally Invasive Precision Surgery in Large Open Cavities with Robotic Flexible Endoscopy
Multi-Scale Robotics Lab, ETH Zurich（ETH Zurich 多尺度机器人实验室）；Center for Preclinical Development, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich（苏黎世大学医院预临床发展中心，苏黎世大学）；Department of Obstetrics, University Hospital of Zurich（苏黎世大学医院妇产科）；The Zurich Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Therapy, University of Zurich（苏黎世大学胎儿诊断与治疗中心）；Department of Pediatric Surgery, University Children’s Hospital Zurich（苏黎世大学儿童医院小儿外科部门）
Johns Hopkins University（约翰斯·霍普金斯大学）；Comcast Applied AI Research, Comcast（康卡斯特应用人工智能研究院（康卡斯特））；Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory（约翰斯·霍普金斯大学应用物理实验室）
Due to their flexibility, dexterity, and compact size, Continuum Manipulators (CMs) can enhance minimally invasive interventions. In these procedures, the CM may be operated in proximity of sensitive organs; therefore, requiring accurate and appropriate feedback when colliding with their surroundings. Conventional CM collision detection algorithms rely on a combination of exact CM constrained kinematics model, geometrical assumptions such as constant curvature behavior, a priori knowledge of the environmental constraint geometry, and/or additional sensors to scan the environment or sense conta…
An Open-Source Robotics Research Platform for Autonomous Laparoscopic Surgery
Department of Translational Surgical Oncology, NCT/UCC Dresden, a partnership between DKFZ, MF UKD, TUD, HZDR Dresden, Germany（转化外科肿瘤学系，NCT/UCC德累斯顿，DKFZ、MF UKD、TUD、HZDR德累斯顿的联合体）；Cluster of Excellence-CeTI, TUD, Germany（卓越中心- CeTI，TUD，德国）；Department of Visceral, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, TUD, Germany（visceral、胸腔和血管外科系，医学学院和卡尔·格奥尔格·卡尔医院，TUD，德国）
the University of Tokyo（东京大学）；Federal University of Minas Gerais（米纳斯吉拉斯联邦大学）；The University of Tokyo Hospital（东京大学医院）；Johns Hopkins University（约翰斯·霍普金斯大学）
In adult laparoscopy, robot-aided surgery is a reality in thousands of operating rooms worldwide, owing to the increased dexterity provided by the robotic tools. Many robots and robot control techniques have been developed to aid in more challenging scenarios, such as pediatric surgery and microsurgery. However, the prevalence of case-specific solutions, particularly those focused on non-redundant robots, reduces the reproducibility of the initial results in more challenging scenarios. In this paper, we propose a general framework for the control of surgical robotics in constrained workspaces …
The use of robots in minimally invasive surgery has improved the quality of standard surgical procedures. So far, only the automation of simple surgical actions has been investigated by researchers, while the execution of structured tasks requiring reasoning on the environment and the choice among multiple actions is still managed by human surgeons. In this paper, we propose a framework to implement surgical task automation. The framework consists of a task-level reasoning module based on answer set programming, a low-level motion planning module based on dynamic movement primitives, and a sit…
We seek to augment human manipulation by enabling humans to control two robotic arms in addition to their natural arms using their feet. Thereby, the hands are free to perform tasks of high dexterity, while the feet-controlled arms perform tasks requiring lower dexterity, such as supporting a load. The robotic arms are tele-operated through two foot interfaces that transmit translation and rotation to the end effector of the manipulator. Haptic feedback is provided for the human to perceive contact and change in load and to adapt the feet pressure accordingly. Existing foot interfaces have bee…
the University of Tokyo（东京大学）；Federal University of Minas Gerais（米纳斯吉拉斯联邦大学）
Robotic assistance allows surgeons to perform dexterous and tremor-free procedures, but is still underrepresented in deep brain neurosurgery and endonasal surgery where the workspace is constrained. In these conditions, the vision of surgeons is restricted to areas near the surgical tool tips, which increases the risk of unexpected collisions between the shafts of the instruments and their surroundings, in particular in areas outside the surgical field-of-view. Active constraints can be used to prevent the tools from entering restricted zones and thus avoid collisions. In this paper, a vector …
The Hamlyn Centre for Robotic Surgery, IGHI, Imperial College London（伦敦帝国理工学院哈姆林机器人手术中心）；Dyson Robotics Laboratory, Imperial College London（伦敦帝国理工学院戴森机器人实验室）；OpenAI；Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London（伦敦帝国理工学院外科与癌症系）
Robotic surgery has become a powerful tool for performing minimally invasive procedures, providing advantages in dexterity, precision, and 3D vision, over traditional surgery. One popular robotic system is the da Vinci surgical platform, which allows preoperative information to be incorporated into live procedures using Augmented Reality (AR). Scene depth estimation is a prerequisite for AR, as accurate registration requires 3D correspondences between preoperative and intraoperative organ models. In the past decade, there has been much progress on depth estimation for surgical scenes, such as …
Simultaneous Estimation of Shape and Force along Highly Deformable Surgical Manipulators Using Sparse FBG Measurement
T Stone Robotics Institute（T Stone机器人研究所）；The Chinese University of Hong Kong（香港中文大学）；Hong Kong Center for Logistics Robotics（香港物流机器人中心）；Department of Computer Science and Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong（香港中文大学计算机科学与工程系）
Control Modes of Teleoperated Surgical Robotic System's Tools in Ophthalmic Surgery
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)（加州大学洛杉矶分校机械与航空航天工程系）；Jules Stein Eye Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)（加州大学洛杉矶分校Jules Stein眼科研究所）
University of Southern California（南加州大学）；Harvard University（哈佛大学）
This work introduces an approach for automatic hair combing by a lightweight robot. For people living with limited mobility, dexterity, or chronic fatigue, combing hair is often a difficult task that negatively impacts personal routines. We propose a modular system for enabling general robot manipulators to assist with a hair-combing task. The system consists of three main components. The first component is the segmentation module, which segments the location of hair in space. The second component is the path planning module that proposes automatically-generated paths through hair based on use…
Dynamic Model Identification and Gravity Compensation for the dVRK-Si Patient Side Manipulator
Department of Robotics Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute（沃斯特理工学院机器人工程系）；Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics, Johns Hopkins University（约翰霍普金斯大学计算感知与机器人实验室）；Department of Computer Science, Vanderbilt University（范德比尔特大学计算机科学系）；Department of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University（约翰霍普金斯大学计算机科学系）
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering（机械工程系）；Dept. of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University（约翰斯·霍普金斯大学计算机科学系）
Teleoperation platforms often require the user to be situated at a fixed location to both visualize and control the movement of the robot and thus do not provide the operator with much mobility. One example is in existing robotic surgery solutions that require the surgeons to be away from the patient, attached to consoles where their heads must be fixed and their arms can only move in a limited space. This creates a barrier between physicians and patients that does not exist in normal surgery. To address this issue, we propose a mobile telesurgery solution where the surgeons are no longer mech…
Technische Universität München（慕尼黑工业大学）；Carl Zeiss Meditec（卡尔蔡司医疗技术公司）；Sun Yat-Sen University（中山大学）；Klinikum rechts der Isar der Technische Universität München（慕尼黑工业大学 Rechts der Isar 医院）
Ophthalmic microsurgery is known to be a challenging operation, which requires very precise and dexterous manipulation. Image guided robot-assisted surgery (RAS) is a promising solution that brings significant improvements in outcomes and reduces the physical limitations of human surgeons. However, this technology must be further developed before it can be routinely used in clinics. One of the problems is the lack of proper calibration between the robotic manipulator and appropriate imaging device. In this work, we developed a flexible framework for hand-eye calibration of an ophthalmic robot …
Institut de Recherche en Communications et Cybernétique de Nantes（南特通信与控制论研究所）；Aldebaran（阿尔德巴兰）；LUNAM University（卢南大学）；University of Poitiers（普瓦捷大学）
This paper presents a numerical method to conceive and design the kinematic model of an anthropomorphic robotic hand used for gesturing and grasping. In literature, there are few numerical methods for the finger placement of human-inspired robotic hands. In particular, there are no numerical methods, for the thumb placement, that aim to improve the hand dexterity and grasping capabilities by keeping the hand design close to the human one. While existing models are usually the result of successive parameter adjustments, the proposed method determines the fingers placements by mean of empirical …
Technische Universität München（慕尼黑工业大学）；Sun Yat-sen University（中山大学）；Johns Hopkins Hospital（约翰斯·霍普金斯医院）；Johns Hopkins University（约翰斯·霍普金斯大学）
Retinal surgery is a complex medical procedure that requires exceptional expertise and dexterity. For this purpose, several robotic platforms are currently being developed to enable or improve the outcome of microsurgical tasks. Since the control of such robots is often designed for navigation inside the eye in proximity to the retina, successful trocar docking and inserting the instrument into the eye represents an additional cognitive effort, and is, therefore, one of the open challenges in robotic retinal surgery. For this purpose, we present a platform for autonomous trocar docking that co…
Johns Hopkins University（约翰斯·霍普金斯大学）；Department of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University（约翰斯·霍普金斯大学计算机科学系）；Laboratory for Computer Aided Medical Procedures, Johns Hopkins University（约翰斯·霍普金斯大学计算机辅助医疗程序实验室）
Robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery has shown to improve patient outcomes, as well as reduce complications and recovery time for several clinical applications. While increasingly configurable robotic arms can maximize reach and avoid collisions in cluttered environments, positioning them appropriately during surgery is complicated because safety regulations prevent automatic driving. We propose a head-mounted display (HMD) based augmented reality (AR) system designed to guide optimal surgical arm set up. The staff equipped with HMD aligns the robot with its planned virtual counterpart. I…
Gravity Compensation of the dVRK-Si Patient Side Manipulator based on Dynamic Model Identification
Department of Robotics Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute（机器人工程系，沃斯通理工大学）；Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics, JHU（计算感知与机器人实验室，约翰·霍普金斯大学）；Department of Computer Science, Vanderbilt University（计算机科学系，范德比尔特大学）；Department of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University（计算机科学系，约翰·霍普金斯大学）
Neural Minimum-Distance Estimation for Collision-Aware Operation of Multi-Arm Laparoscopy Surgical Robots Through Learning-from-Simulation
Surgical Performance Enhancement and Robotics (SuPER) Centre, Department of Surgery（外科性能增强与机器人中心（SuPER）中心，外科部）；The Wilfred and Joyce Posluns Centre for Image Guided Innovation & Therapeutic Intervention (PCIGITI)（威廉与乔伊斯·波斯伦中心（PCIGITI）影像引导创新与治疗干预中心）；The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)（儿童医院（SickKids））
The introduction of surgical robots brought about advancements in surgical procedures. The applications of remote telesurgery range from building medical clinics in underprivileged areas, to placing robots abroad in military hot-spots where accessibility and diversity of medical experience may be limited. Poor wireless connectivity may result in a prolonged delay, referred to as latency, between a surgeon's input and action a robot takes. In surgery, any micro-delay can injure a patient severely and in some cases, result in fatality. One was to increase safety is to mitigate the effects of lat…
