A Remote-Controlled Robotic System with Safety Protection Strategy Based on Force-Sensing and Bending Feedback for Transcatheter Arterial Chemoembolization

Abstract

Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) is the common choice of non-open surgery for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) now. In this study, a simple TACE robotic system of 4-degree-of-freedom is proposed to get higher accuracy and stability of the surgery operation and reduce X-ray exposure time of the surgeons. The master–slave control strategy is adopted in the robotic system and a customized sigmoid function is designed to optimize the joystick control of the master–slave robotic control system. A force-sensing module is developed to sense the resistance of the guide wire in linear delivery motion and an auxiliary bending feedback method based on constraint pipe with a film sensor is proposed. With two force-sensing methods, the safety strategy of robotic motion with 9 different motion constraint coefficients is given and a human–computer interface is developed. The TACE robot would monitor the value of the force sensor and the analog voltage of the film sensor to adopt the corresponding motion constraint coefficient in every 10 ms. Vascular model experiments were performed to validate the robotic system, and the results showed that the safety strategy could improve the reliability of the operation with immediate speed constraint and avoid potential aggressive delivery.

Remote Vascular Interventional Surgery Robotics: A Literature Review

“…The simplest and most direct method is to measure the force through a force sensor and set a threshold for the feedback signal. Many research groups have adopted this approach, such as Guo Shuxiang et al [32]. The Corpath GRX system also has such a warning function.…”

Remote Vascular Interventional Surgery Robotics: A Literature Review

“…Besides arranging force sensors between the transmission components, Zhou et al of Xiamen University also attempted to arrange a sensing pipe at the front of the robot, and indirectly judged the magnitude of the resistance through the squeezing that occurred between the interventional device and the sensing pipe (35). Hyo-Jeong et al of Hanyang University in South Korea (36) and Sankaran et al of the University of Illinois (37,38) measured the resistance forces based on the input current of the motors.…”

Remote Vascular Interventional Surgery Robotics: A Review

“…Besides arranging force sensors between the transmission components, Zhou et al of Xiamen University also tried to arrange a sensing pipe at the front of the robot and indirectly judged the magnitude of the resistance through the squeezing between the interventional device and the sensing pipe [32]. Hyo-Jeong et al of Hanyang University in South Korea [33] and Sankaran et al of the University of Illinois [34,35] measured the resistance forces by the input current of the motors.…”