Endocavity Ultrasound Probe Manipulators

Abstract

We developed two similar structure manipulators for medical endocavity ultrasound probes with 3 and 4 degrees of freedom (DoF). These robots allow scanning with ultrasound for 3-D imaging and enable robot-assisted image-guided procedures. Both robots use remote center of motion kinematics, characteristic of medical robots. The 4-DoF robot provides unrestricted manipulation of the endocavity probe. With the 3-DoF robot the insertion motion of the probe must be adjusted manually, but the device is simpler and may also be used to manipulate external-body probes. The robots enabled a novel surgical approach of using intraoperative image-based navigation during robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP), performed with concurrent use of two robotic systems (Tandem, T-RALP). Thus far, a clinical trial for evaluation of safety and feasibility has been performed successfully on 46 patients. This paper describes the architecture and design of the robots, the two prototypes, control features related to safety, preclinical experiments, and the T-RALP procedure.

Development of a Wearable Robotic Positioning System for Noninvasive Transcranial Focused Ultrasound Stimulation

“…Although it is not for brain stimulation, some robots have been developed for ultrasound imaging probe positioning [15][16][17]. A robot being based on parallelogram linkage was firstly proposed to position ultrasound probes [15].…”

“…This robot has full six degrees of freedom (DOF) and large workspace. A small sized three DOF and four DOF robots were proposed for manipulating endocavity ultrasound probe [16]. They applied it to radical prostatectomy operation enabling the surgeon to observe ultrasound images intraoperatively.…”

Biomaterial characteristics and application of silicone rubber and PVA hydrogels mimicked in organ groups for prostate brachytherapy

“…To imitate the human body veritably, pelvic organ group mockup is placed inside a polymethyl methacrylate box filled with agarose which is used to simulate the human vivo environment (Stoianovici et al, 2013). To immobilize the os pelvicum, two nylon hemispheres are used to imitate the thighbone and are inserted into the ischial fossa, whose plane section is fitted to the side of the box.…”

“…Preoperative simulation and intraoperative feedback will bring great benefits for the surgery accuracy. The organ group mockup was used in preoperative simulation study in order to obtain better insertion experience (Stoianovici et al, 2013). Through insertion experiments, universal law of force status between needle and tissues during the prostate brachytherapy can be obtained.…”

Inner-Learning Mechanism Based Control Scheme for Manipulator with Multitasking and Changing Load

“…This pattern of manipulator utilization works well in the past several decades but is meeting and will meet great challenges [1] from the fast changing manufacturing orders because of the growing number of people who want their daily products different from others' . Besides industrial factories, more and more manipulators are used in the outdoor [2][3][4][5] or indoor [6,7] environments individually or fixed on moving platforms. To fit these situations, the complexity of task and environment should be considered when we design the controller of manipulator.…”