A distributed framework for relaying stereo vision for telerobotics

Abstract

Stereo vision is one critical tool in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) for enhancing perception of depth of organs which greatly improves the operation efficiency. Augmented stereo views results from superimposing 3D anatomical models with real organ views. A reliable distributed framework for relaying stereoscopic visual feedbacks between a telerobotic server and a client station is proposed. The distributed components are based on DirectX, Visual C#, and Window sockets. We used a multi-threaded execution to promote concurrency in grabbing, transmitting, receiving, processing, and displaying image data using head-mounted display (HMD) technology. The client station provides components that support augmented reality (AR), i.e. superimposing animated graphic model with real views from the operating site. Design and performance issues of proposed multi-threaded execution for streaming of stereo data in a distributed and modular framework is presented.

Varying Speed Rate Controller for Human–Robot Teleoperation Based on Muscle Electrical Signals

“…The muscle electrical signal is attenuated after passing through the subcutaneous tissue to the epidermis, and muscle tension signals are less than 1 mV. To obtain high-quality measurement signals and reduce interference, a differential amplifier is needed [9]. Hoffer and Perry [16] used 40-1000 Hz with an overall gain of 1000 as the EMG system bandwidth.…”

“…However, the above operations are based on remote sensing of the controller, etc., without using the human body's natural gesture language, which conforms with human habits. Authors in [9]- [11] used the human body's natural gestures to control the robot, but were limited by operational space constraints (For a human may require less space for gestures than the robot needs to carry out its activities). Here is an example of spatial constraints: The active space of the hand is 1 and the active space of the robot is 3, we can set the attitude of the robot mapping coefficient to 3 to meet the robot's functional requirements.…”

Lightweight wireless protocol based on IEEE 802.11 for delay sensitive telerobotic systems

“…The first author of the present paper also coauthored several papers on telerobotic systems [15][16][17][18][19][20][21], and all of them were based on the use of the standard TCP/IP suite of protocols for communication. In all of the above-mentioned papers, a standard wireless communication protocol, which was designed and optimized for a different application, was used for a robotics related application, and there was no effort to design a custom application specific protocol.…”