A novel noncontact detection method of surgeon's operation for a master-slave endovascular surgery robot

A Deep-Learning-Based Guidewire Compliant Control Method for the Endovascular Surgery Robot

Endovascular surgery is a high-risk operation with limited vision and intractable guidewires. At present, endovascular surgery robot (ESR) systems based on force feedback liberates surgeons' operation skills, but it lacks the ability to combine force perception with vision. In this study, a deep learning-based guidewire-compliant control method (GCCM) is proposed, which guides the robot to avoid surgical risks and improve the efficiency of guidewire operation. First, a deep learning-based model called GCCM-net is built to identify whether the guidewire tip collides with the vascular wall in real time. The experimental results in a vascular phantom show that the best accuracy of GCCM-net is 94.86 ± 0.31%. Second, a real-time operational risk classification method named GCCM-strategy is proposed. When the surgical risks occur, the GCCM-strategy uses the result of GCCM-net as damping and decreases the robot's running speed through virtual resistance. Compared with force sensors, the robot with GCCM-strategy can alleviate the problem of force position asynchrony caused by the long and soft guidewires in real-time. Experiments run by five guidewire operators show that the GCCM-strategy can reduce the average operating force by 44.0% and shorten the average operating time by 24.6%; therefore the combination of vision and force based on deep learning plays a positive role in improving the operation efficiency in ESR.

Bioengineering, augmented reality, and robotic surgery in vascular surgery: A literature review

Biomedical engineering integrates a variety of applied sciences with life sciences to improve human health and reduce the invasiveness of surgical procedures. Technological advances, achieved through biomedical engineering, have contributed to significant improvements in the field of vascular and endovascular surgery. This paper aims to review the most cutting-edge technologies of the last decade involving the use of augmented reality devices and robotic systems in vascular surgery, highlighting benefits and limitations. Accordingly, two distinct literature surveys were conducted through the PubMed database: the first review provides a comprehensive assessment of augmented reality technologies, including the different techniques available for the visualization of virtual content (11 papers revised); the second review collects studies with bioengineering content that highlight the research trend in robotic vascular surgery, excluding works focused only on the clinical use of commercially available robotic systems (15 papers revised). Technological flow is constant and further advances in imaging techniques and hardware components will inevitably bring new tools for a clinical translation of innovative therapeutic strategies in vascular surgery.

Remote vascular interventional surgery robotics: a literature review

Vascular interventional doctors are exposed to radiation hazards during surgery and endure high work intensity. Remote vascular interventional surgery robotics is a hot research field, in which researchers aim to not only protect the health of interventional doctors, but to also improve surgical accuracy and efficiency. However, the current vascular interventional robots have numerous shortcomings, such as poor haptic feedback, few compatible surgeries and instruments, and cumbersome maintenance and operational procedures. Nevertheless, vascular interventional surgery combined with robotics provides more cutting-edge directions, such as Internet remote surgery combined with 5G network technology and the application of artificial intelligence in surgical procedures. To summarize the developmental status and key technical points of intravascular interventional surgical robotics research, we performed a systematic literature search to retrieve original articles related to remote vascular interventional surgery robotics published up to December 2020. This review, which includes 113 articles published in English, introduces the mechanical and structural characteristics of various aspects of vascular interventional surgical robotics, discusses the current key features of vascular interventional surgical robotics in force sensing, haptic feedback, and control methods, and summarizes current frontiers in autonomous surgery, long-distance robotic telesurgery, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-compatible structures. On the basis of summarizing the current research status of remote vascular interventional surgery robotics, we aim to propose a variety of prospects for future robotic systems.

An Isomorphic Interactive Device for the Interventional Surgical Robot after In Vivo Study

Interventional surgical robots are widely used in neurosurgery to improve surgeons’ working environment and surgical safety. Based on the actual operational needs of surgeons’ feedback during preliminary in vivo experiments, this paper proposed an isomorphic interactive master controller for the master–slave interventional surgical robot. The isomorphic design of the controller allows surgeons to utilize their surgical skills during remote interventional surgeries. The controller uses the catheter and guidewire as the operating handle, the same as during actual surgeries. The collaborative operational structure design and the working methods followed the clinical operational skills. The linear force feedback and torque feedback devices were designed to improve the safety of surgeries under remote operating conditions. An eccentric force compensation was conducted to achieve accurate force feedback. Several experiments were carried out, such as calibration experiments, master–slave control performance evaluation experiments, and operation comparison experiments on the novel and previously used controllers. The experimental results show that the proposed controller can perform complex operations in remote surgery applications and has the potential for further animal experiment evaluations.

ADRC-Based Control Method for the Vascular Intervention Master-Slave Surgical Robotic System

In vascular interventional surgery, surgeons operate guidewires and catheters to diagnose and treat patients with the assistance of the digital subtraction angiography (DSA). Therefore, the surgeon will be exposed to X-rays for extended periods. To protect the surgeon, the development of a robot-assisted surgical system is of great significance. The displacement tracking accuracy is the most important issue to be considered in the development of the system. In this study, the active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) method is applied to guarantee displacement tracking accuracy. First, the core contents of the proportional–integral–derivative (PID) and ADRC methods are analyzed. Second, comparative evaluation experiments for incremental PID and ADRC methods are presented. The results show that the ADRC method has better performance of than that of the incremental PID method. Finally, the calibration experiments for the ADRC control method are implemented using the master–slave robotic system. These experiments demonstrate that the maximum tracking error is 0.87 mm using the ADRC method, effectively guaranteeing surgical safety.

A highly intuitive and ergonomic redundant joint master device for four-degrees of freedom flexible endoscopic surgery robot

BACKGROUND

Studies have been conducted on slave-specific master devices with a similar kinematic structure to the slave to enhance intuitiveness. However, for the four-degrees of freedom (DOFs) slave of a flexible endoscopic surgery robot, only four DOFs in the master device causes low ergonomic performance.

METHODS

To enhance ergonomic performance, a second yaw joint was added as a redundant joint after considering the range of wrist motion and the workspace shape. Three experiments were performed to compare the intuitiveness and ergonomic performance of the proposed device with four-DOFs slave-specific and six-DOFs general-purpose master devices.

RESULTS

Significant differences were observed in terms of intuitiveness performance between the slave-specific and the general-purposed master device. On the other hand, there was no significant difference in ergonomic performance between the master devices with redundant joint.

CONCLUSIONS

Compared with a general-purpose master device, the proposed one exhibited noticeably improved intuitiveness performance and comparable ergonomic performance.