Surgical Robotics
- Design and build new surgical robot platforms to provide enhanced performance of surgical operations, seeking to offer unparalleled capabilities in terms of dexterity, accuracy, and reliability.
- Modeling and control of these robot systems to execute complex procedures with minimal human intervention, reducing the risk of errors and enhancing the consistency of surgical outcomes.
MR-guided Robotic Catheterization
Recent progress in ablation therapy leverages magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for higher contrast visual feedback, and additionally utilizes a guiding sheath with an actively deflectable tip to improve the dexterity of the catheter inside the heart. We presents the design and validation of an MR-conditional robotic module for automated actuation of both the ablation catheter and the sheath. The robotic module features a compact design for improved accessibility inside the MR scanner bore and is driven by piezoelectric motors to ensure MR-conditionality. Path following experiments were conducted to validate the actuation module and control scheme, achieving < 2 mm average tip position error.
MR-Conditional Concentric Tube Robot for Intracerebral Hemorrhage (ICH)
About 1 in 50 people suffer from Intracerebral Hemorrhage (ICH) in their lifetime. ICH occurs when blood leaked from a ruptured vessel accumulates and forms a blood clot (hematoma) in the cerebrum. The objective of this research is to create and validate a minimally-invasive Magnetic Resonance (MR) – compatible concentric tube robot for ICH evacuation. We will develop dexterous robot hardware, enable accurate real-time image guidance, and perform system-level evaluations in live animals. Related Publications:
Liver Ablation Robot
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third most common cause of cancer-related death in the world with a five-year survival rate as low as 4%. Laser ablation has been shown to be an effective method of treating HCC. However, with current clinical practices it is rather difficult to place the ablation needle within the target volume due to the respiratory-induced dynamic movement of the liver. We propose a novel robotic platform that will enable accurate needle deployment under intraoperative CT image guidance. The robot consists of upper and lower XY-carriages that allow for 4-DOF in aiming the needle and this is coupled with a 3D printed flexible fluidic actuator that creates a step-like grasp-insert-release method of actuation.
Surgical Autonomy based on dVRK system
Surgical robots, such as Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci Surgical System, have brought about more efficient surgeries by improving the dexterity and reducing fatigue of the surgeon through teleoperational control. Research in surgical task automation has been growing to improve patient throughput, reduce variations in the quality-of-care during surgeries, and possibly enable automated surgeries in the future. We use Reinforcement Learning (RL) based methods to push forward the task-level autonomy including soft tissue manipulation.
Soft and Continuum Robot
- Control and modeling of pneumatic soft robot arm
- Modeling and planning of tendon-driven continuum robots/concentric tube robots
- Bio-inspired soft robot locomotion and manipulation
Pneumatic soft robot arm
Soft robotic manipulators promise manipulation dexterity and compliance, but these properties make them hard to control due to the uncertainties and nonlinearities in their dynamics. We are now investigating the control method that not only takes into account the known dominant dynamics of the robot but also maintain the superior trajectory tracking in the presence of parametric uncertainty. Related Publications:
Continuum and Concentric Tube robot
We focus on the contact and friction modeling of continuum robots. We proposed a formulation through linear complementarity problems that accommodated various effects caused by the contact, including static friction and hysteresis behavior. The future work is to generalize the contact model for concentric tube robots and tendon-driven robots. Related Publications:
Continuum robots (CRs) offer high dexterity and compliance, making them well-suited for navigating and interacting within confined environments. However, path planning in the presence of elastic contact remains challenging, as contact can lead to multiple possible configurations and ill-defined forward kinematics, making it difficult to characterize the set of feasible configurations. In this work, we study path planning for CRs under elastic contact, focusing on the challenges posed by these configuration ambiguities. Related Publications:
Soft Robot Harvesting
Fresh-market berries are typically harvested manually, but labor costs and shortages create an urgent need for automation. We developed a tendon-actuated soft robotic gripper on a multi-DoF robotic arm for automated blackberry harvesting. The system uses force control for optimal grip, image processing for berry detection, and an off-road chassis to navigate along floricane rows. Related Publications:
Modular Self-reconfigurable Continuum Robot
Modular Self-Reconfigurable Robots offer exceptional adaptability and versatility through reconfiguration, but traditional rigid robot designs lack the compliance necessary for effective interaction with complex environments. This study presents an untethered Modular Self-Reconfigurable Continuum Robot (MSRCR) for general-purpose loco-manipulation, which provides each module with independent locomotion and manipulation capabilities. Related Publications: