Teodora Gîrbacia

Optimal Planning of Needle Insertion for Robotic-Assisted Prostate Biopsy

Robotic systems used for prostate biopsy offer important advantages compared to the manual procedures. In the robotic assisted prostate biopsy procedure, an important problem is to identify the optimal needle trajectories that allow reaching the target tissue and avoiding vital anatomical organs (major blood vessels, internal organs etc.). The paper presents an algorithm for optimal planning of the biopsy needle trajectories, based on virtual reality technologies, using as case study a novel parallel robot designed for transperineal prostate biopsy. The developed algorithm has been tested in a virtual environment for the prostate biopsy robotic-assisted procedure and results are presented.

Path and Trajectory Planning for Vehicles with Navigation Assistants

For autonomous vehicles an important problem is to plan and accurately follow the optimal trajectory between the start point and the target, without collision with the obstacles placed in the environment. In order to obtain a continuous motion along the planned path for a vehicle with navigation assistants, especially when avoiding obstacles, the transition between a straight segment and circle arcs has to be done through using an additional curve. This paper present an algorithm based on clothoid curves for optimal steering using as case a vehicle with navigation assistants. The developed algorithm has been tested in a real environment and results have been presented.

An Evolutionary Computational Algorithm for Trajectory Planning of an Innovative Parallel Robot for Brachytherapy

Brachytherapy (BT) is a procedure used to treat cancer by inserting needles directly into the patient’s tumour tissue in order to deliver radioactive seeds. The efficiency of this procedure is obtained by minimizing the number of inserted needles and generating safe trajectories that avoid critical areas. To increase the accuracy of needle insertion, the physician is replaced by a robot. The paper presents an evolutionary algorithm used to generate trajectories for needles inserted by an innovative BT parallel robot. Given the locations of the points representing the seeds and the 3D virtual model of the treatment area, the proposed solver allows the minimization of the number of inserted needles and the planning of needles trajectories that avoid high risk areas. The solver was validated for a complex BT liver treatment scenario.

Virtual Planning of Needle Guidance for a Parallel Robot Used in Brachytherapy

Brachytherapy (BT) is an innovative cancer treatment option that allows the delivery of high doses of radiation to specific areas of the body. BT has an important advantage: it doesn’t irradiate unnecessarily healthy tissue, but focalizes mainly on the destruction of tumorous cells. The paper presents an innovative parallel robot designed for BT and a needle trajectory planning software. The algorithm designed for virtual planning of robotic needle insertion allows automatic or manual definition of the needles trajectory. A virtual reality environment has been modelled and simulations using a real needle trajectory have been conducted.

Planning of Needle Insertion for Robotic-Assisted Prostate Biopsy in Augmented Reality Using RGB-D Camera

Augmented Reality (AR) technologies are increasingly used in many areas. There is a vast research activity within the field of AR in medical applications. In this paper, an AR system using RGB-D camera is proposed to facilitate trajectory planning for a prostate biopsy robot. The advantage of the developed AR environment consists in the possibility to generate needle trajectories using a 3D virtual model of a specific patient directly in the robot workspace. It was shown from a test case that the generated biopsy needle trajectory reaches successfully the target area.

Vibrotactile Patterns for Smartphone Based ADAS Warnings

A large number of researches show that various driver distractions considerably increase the probability of causing an accident. Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) can be used to prevent dangerous driving conditions by monitoring the environment and warn the user in situations like collision, lane departure or speed infractions. In most cases of using the ADAS systems, the driver is warned by visual indicators or audio signals. This paper investigates the design of a device that can be integrated in the driver’s seat which allows the issue of dynamic vibrotactile warnings received from a smartphone based ADAS system.

An analysis on tissue deformation during robotic biopsy needle insertion

In recent years, medical robotics has grown continuously beginning to be used in more new areas. Robots were designed with the ability of steering special needles especially for biopsy and brachytherapy procedures. In this paper is determined and analyzed the puncture force and tissues deformation during needle insertion in a robotic biopsy procedure. The experimental set-up used to determine tissue deformations and puncture event is presented considering that controlled forces are applied to the biopsy needle. The tissue deformation is analyzed using image processing techniques. The results for biopsy needle insertion into three different porcine tissues (liver, kidney and skin) are interpreted. Also the results are compared with the ones obtained from Finite Element Method based needle insertion simulation.

Development of an Advanced Driver Assistance System using RGB-D Camera

In recent years, the automotive industry has shown increased interest in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), especially those based on bio-signals. Recent advances in RGB-D technologies have provided effective solutions for tracking human activity based on depth data. In this paper is presented an ADAS system based on Kinect RGB-D camera for the identification of the driver’s distraction. Using depth and colour information the proposed ADAS system is be able to identify the driver’s head orientation and eye position. Based on this data, the driver’s inattention is detected and the driver is warned by audio signals. The proposed ADAS system was evaluated using a Virtual Reality driver simulator for manual and visual distraction. The results show accurate recognition of driver’s distraction.

Programming an Autonomous Mini-vehicle in Narrow Environments

In order for a mini-vehicle to accurately follow a trajectory with a constant velocity even while avoiding an obstacle, the transition between driving straight ahead and making a turn is realized by driving along a clothoid arc. In narrow environments the generated trajectory requires a higher number of maneuvers in order to avoid the obstacles placed in the environment. In this paper is presented the hardware structure of a mini-vehicle with two electric servomotors and an algorithm developed for achieving an autonomous mini-vehicle that allows to accurately establish the speed with which the car is going to travel, calculate the distances between specific points of the trajectory and the necessary time required to reach transitional or final targets.

A Virtual Reality System for Pre-Planning of Robotic-Assisted Prostate Biopsy

Surgical robots for biopsy procedure require pre-operative planning of trajectories prior to be used for needle guiding procedures. Virtual Reality (VR) technologies allow to simulate robotic biopsy procedure and to generate accurate needle trajectories that avoid vital organs. The paper presents a serial robot which can be used for biopsy procedure and a needle trajectory planning software based on VR technologies. A virtual environment has been modelled and simulations for robotic-assisted biopsy of the prostate have been performed.