Medical Robotics

Medical applications provide some very interesting, challenging, and rewarding projects; we have applied our interests in robotics, control, and haptics to projects in:

Haptic Instruments

Limb Deformity Correction

Recent work

• Ph.D Thesis and Defense – Conrad, B.: Redundant Design and Adaptive Control of an Interleaved Continuum Rigid Manipulator Continuum manipulator compliance enables operation in delicate environments at the cost of challenging actuation and control. In the case of catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation, the compliance of the continuum backbone lends an inherent safety to the device. This inherent safety frustrates attempts at precise, accurate, and fast control, limiting these devices to simple, static ...
• Midwest Robotics Workshop 2016: Interleaved Continuum-Rigid Manipulation Ben Conrad (graduate student) presented a poster at the 2106 Midwest Robotics Workshop at the Toyota Technical Institute in Chicago.
• IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics 2016 – Interleaved Continuum-Rigid Manipulation: An Approach to Increase the Capability of Minimally-Invasive Surgical Systems Abstract—Continuum manipulator compliance enables operation in delicate environments while challenging the actuation and control approaches. In the case of a catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation, the compliance of the continuum backbone lends an inherent safety to the device. This inherent safety frustrates attempts at precise, accurate, and fast control, limiting the continuum devices to simple and static positioning tasks. This paper develops ...
• Preliminary Examination: Ben Conrad has successfully completed his Ph.D. Preliminary Examination presentation Continuum manipulator compliance enables operation in delicate environments at the cost of challenging actuation and control. In the case of catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation, the compliance of the continuum backbone lends an inherent safety to the device. This inherent safety frustrates attempts at precise, accurate, and fast control, limiting their use to simple, static ...
• ICRA 2015 – Multi-Modal Localization Algorithm for Catheter Interventions Abstract— Localization of steerable catheters in minimally invasive surgery is critical with respect to patient safety, surgeon manipulation, and procedural efficacy. While there are many potential benefits to patients including shorter recovery times, less tissue trauma, and lower infection rates than traditional surgeries, localization of surgical tools is still an area of much research. Current technology offers several sensory modalities. However, each ...
• ICRA 2015 – Closed Loop Task Space Control of an Interleaved Continuum-Rigid Manipulator A new manipulation approach, referred to as interleaved continuum-rigid manipulation, which combines inherently safe, flexible actuated segments with more precise embedded rigid-link joints has recently been introduced. The redundantly actuated manipulator possesses the safety characteristics inherent in flexible segment devices while gaining some of the performance attributes of rigid-link joint systems. In this paper, we ...
• ICRA 2015 – Tackling Friction: An analytical modeling approach to understanding friction in single tendon driven continuum manipulators     Abstract: Tendon driven continuum robots have attracted a significant amount of attention in the last decade. As a result several discrete and continuous modeling approaches have been explored in order to understand their behavior. The following article proposes an analytical model describing the influence of frictional effects between the tendon and its conduit in tendon driven ...
• Advanced Robotics 2014 – A Modeling Approach for Robotic Catheters: Effects of Nonlinear Internal Device Friction Abstract – Recently, robotic surge~ systems using passive flexible catheters have been developed for minimally invasive surgical applications – such as in the treatment of atrial fibrillation – where catheter control in the open chamber of the heart is required. The soft, atraumatic construction of these devices help reduce injury to delicate cardiac structures while providing ...
• IROS 2014 – Interleaved Continuum-Rigid Manipulation A new manipulation approach, referred to as interleaved continuum-rigid manipulation, which combines inherently safe, flexible actuated segments with more precise embedded rigid-link joints is described. The redundantly actuated manipulator possesses the safety characteristics inherent in flexible segment devices while gaining some of the performance gains possible with rigid-link joint systems. A demonstration prototype was developed, the purpose of which was to explore the ...
• Advanced Robotics 2014 – A Combined Modal-Joint Space Control of Continuum Manipulators Abstract – Continuum manipulators such as robotic tele-operated cardiac catheters continue to gain popularity for use in minimally invasive surgical procedures due to their inherent safety characteristics. However, their flexible nature makes them prone to both steady state positioning errors and undesirable vibrations. We propose a combined control  system incorporating both a tracking position controller to reduce steady state ...