I. Garcia-Morales

Human-machine interface evaluation in a computer assisted surgical system

This work presents an approach to the evaluation of two interfaces for the control of a robotic surgical assistant. Each interface is associated to a different mode of controlling the system: by the surgeon (voice commands) or by the assistant (tactile interface). This two modes are allowed by the design of the manipulator, developed to occupy a small volume in the operating room. To evaluate the interfaces, a rating scale for teleoperated systems is proposed.

Adaptive cartesian motion control approach for a surgical robotic cameraman

This paper presents an adaptive trajectory planning method concerning to the robotic assistant ERM (endoscopic robotic manipulator), designed and developed by the authors for handling the camera in laparoscopic surgery. In order to emulate the human assistant, camera movements must be defined relative to the fulcrum point, where the optic passes through the patient skin and enters inside the abdominal cavity. Since the robot has a passive wrist, and it is not fixed to the operating table, the relative position between the robot camera holder and the insertion point is unknown. In this way, the proposed approach keeps the camera orientation according to the motion references in spite of this uncertainty, and compensates other unexpected disturbances about the relative robot-patient position. This motion planner is based on a schema of a cartesian motion controller with inner joint position-velocity loop, and has been tested by means of experimentation with alive animals.

Pivoting motion control for a laparoscopic assistant robot and human clinical trials

This paper presents a compliant motion control method for the robotic assistant ERM (Endoscopic Robotic Manipulator), designed and developed by the authors for handling the camera in laparoscopic surgery. Since the robot has a passive wrist and it is not fixed to the operating table, the relative position between the robot camera holder and the insertion point is unknown. In this way, the proposed approach keeps the camera orientation according to the motion references in spite of this uncertainty and compensates for other unexpected disturbances about the relative robot–patient position. This system has been tested with live animals as well as in clinical trials on humans.

Control movement scheme based on manipulability concept for a surgical robotic assistant

This paper proposes a Cartesian control scheme applied to a robotic assistant for laparoscopic surgery. This systems main characteristic is that it emulates the movements of a human assistant, guiding the laparoscopic camera with precision to focus on the area in question inside the patient. Furthermore this control scheme requires adjustment of certain parameters in order to prevent saturation of the manipulators actuators, and therefore the robot has been studied in terms of manipulability. The proposed movement control scheme has been implanted in the ERM robot used to carry out trials on thirty two patients

Three-layer control for active wrists in robotized laparoscopic surgery

This paper is focused on the motion control problem for a laparoscopic surgery robot assistant with an actuated wrist. These assistants may apply non-desired efforts to the patient abdomen. Therefore, this article proposes a control methodology based on three feedback levels, which have been defined as layers. These layers control different aspects of the endoscope movement. A low level assures the dynamic of the robot assistant is performed accordingly. The mid level emulates a passive wrist behavior to avoid any efforts over the abdomen. An external high level deals with the global movement planning. This architecture also makes easier to analyze the stability of the whole system. Finally, a real in-vitro experiment has been implemented with an industrial robot in order to contrast the validity of this article procedure.

A minimally invasive surgery robotic assistant for HALS-SILS techniques

This paper is focused in the design and implementation of a robotic surgical motion controller. The proposed control scheme addresses the issues related to the application of a robot assistant in novel surgical scenario, which combines hand assisted laparoscopic surgery (HALS) with the single incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS) techniques. It is designed for collaborating with the surgeon in a natural way, by performing autonomous movements, in order to assist the surgeon during a surgical maneuver. In this way, it is implemented a hierarchical architecture which includes an upper auto-guide velocity planner connected to a low-level force feedback controller. The first one, based on a behavior approach, computes a collision free trajectory of the surgical instrument tip, held by the robot, for reaching a goal location inside of the abdominal cavity. On the other hand, the force feedback controller uses this trajectory for performing the instrument displacement by taking into account the holonomic movement constraints introduced by the fulcrum point. The aim of this controller is positioning the surgical instrument by minimizing the forces exerted over the abdominal wall due to the fulcrum location uncertainty. The overall system has been integrated in the control architecture of the surgical assistant CISOBOT, designed and developed at the University of Malaga. The whole architecture performance has been tested by means of in vitro trials.

Minimally invasive surgery maneuver recognition based on surgeon model

This paper proposes a new user interface based on a maneuver recognition system, which models the surgeon behavior. This interface includes three different modules: data acquisition and coding, training system and on-line recognition system. The aim is defined as recognizing the surgeon movements while is performing a surgical maneuver, by using a 3D surgical tool tracker. The obtained measurements are converted in to movement symbols by means of a Wavelet transform and a fuzzy clustering. These symbols are used both for training HMM and for recognizing the current maneuver. The system has been tested in some in-vitro experiments performing a fictitious surgical protocol.

Collaborative Human–Robot System for HALS Suture Procedures

Over the last years, minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has continuously improved due to new techniques and technologies. One of these novel techniques is hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery (HALS), where the surgeon inserts one hand through a small incision inside the abdominal cavity of the patient. As this kind of intervention only allows the use of one laparoscopic tool, the surgeon requires a deep collaboration with the assistant in order to coordinate their movements for performing a surgical maneuver. In this way, the replacement of a human assistant with a robot system specifically designed for HALS must include a natural human-machine interface and the capability for taking autonomous decisions. These features need the implementation of a model of the surgical protocol, a system capable of recognizing the corresponding surgical gestures made by the surgeon, and an autonomous task system that assists the surgeon without his direct intervention. This paper is focused on the design of a collaborative surgical robot that implements all the features previously described. This robot assistant has been validated by means of in vitro laparoscopic sutures on a HALS scenario with CISOBOT, a two-arm robotic platform designed and developed at the University of Malaga.

Robotic system for single incision laparoscopic surgery

This paper proposes a robotic system to assist and collaborate with surgeons in Single Incision Laparoscopic Surgery (SILS) operations. The system, aim at solving the main drawbacks of this kind of surgery, is composed of a miniature camera robot and a redundant robotic grasper. Positioning of both robots inside the patients abdomen is done by means of magnetic control. External magnetic sources are placed at the end effector of two robotic arms, and permanent magnets are integrated in the robots. Camera robot is provided with three permanent magnets, so both position and orientation can be controlled. Sliding control, which is robust against perturbations and parameter uncertainties, is chosen. Robotic graspers redundancy makes possible autonomously obstacle avoidance and increases its workspace. The haptic device is designed so as surgeons can handle the grasper as if it were a conventional tool. In order to this aim, augmented reality is used to simulate a traditional tool in the visual feedback system, in substitution of the robotic grasper. Besides the telemanipulation, requirements for autonomously functions to assist surgeons in the specific tasks of suturing are discussed.

Interfaz multimodal para un asistente robótico quirúrgico: uso de reconocimiento de maniobras quirúrgicas

This paper proposes a methodology for the recognition of surgical maneuvers in laparoscopic surgical interventions. The aim is to create an interface between the surgeon and a surgical robotic assistant for two arms of minimally invasive surgery procedures. The proposed interface receives information about the positioning of surgical tools of the surgeon using 3D sensors and the recognition system facilitates the current maneuver is completed. Therefore, the recognition system maneuvers that supports this interface requires a library of models of maneuvers to work. The models chosen to represent the surgical maneuvers are Hidden Markov Models. To validate the proposed methodology, we have developed a series of in-vitro experiments.