Toward active tremor canceling in handheld microsurgical instruments

Abstract

Abstract-This paper describes research in active instruments for enhanced accuracy in microsurgery. The aim is to make accuracy enhancement as transparent to the surgeon as possible. Rather than using a robotic arm, we have taken the novel approach of developing a handheld instrument that senses its own movement, distinguishes between desired and undesired motion, and deflects its tip to perform active compensation of the undesired component. The research has therefore required work in quantification and modeling of instrument motion, filtering algorithms for tremor and other erroneous movements, and development of handheld electromechanical systems to perform active error compensation. The paper introduces the systems developed in this research and presents preliminary results.

Active filtering of physiological motion in robotized surgery using predictive control

“…In our work, we use a similar approach to estimate the motion of a pig's heart. The same adaptive algorithm is used in [6] and [7] to model physiological tremor of the surgeon's hand. Only one stage is required since this motion contains only one quasi-periodic component.…”

Single Fiber Optical Coherence Tomography Microsurgical Instruments for Computer and Robot-Assisted Retinal Surgery

“…The position resolution is 1µm and measured repeatability is about ± 1 µm for range of motion required for this experiment (<2mm). This robot was chosen for experimental convenience, and would be replaced in actual practice by a system similar to [9][10]. The robot is interfaced to a PC workstation through a commercial motion controller (Galil DMC 1886).…”

“…Compared to alternative approaches, CP-OCT is simple, robust, and affordable [8], and also permits an extremely compact tool design. This "A-mode" sensing capability can either be used with conventional free-hand instruments or (as here) can be combined with a robotic microsurgery platform such as the JHU EyeRobot [9] or the CMU Micron [10]. When integrated with a robot, this instrument may be scanned to produce images of the local anatomy or integrated in various ways to the control the robot.…”

Inverse Kinematic Model of Flexure-Based Microsurgical Manipulator

“…A custom three-dimensional (3-D) optical tracking system for validation of microsurgical instruments (ASAP, for Apparatus to Sense Accuracy of Position) was used for data collection [5]. Figure 2 shows the setup, with the manipulator affixed to the underside of a small platform near the top of the photograph.…”