机器人辅助内镜手术系统的设计与开发

机器人应用于外科手术中，通过医生和机器人系统的合理分工和有机配合，可以提高 手术质量、改善医生工作条件、实现远程手术等．本文以纤维内镜手术为研究对象，针对术 中X射线对医护人员身体健康造成伤害的现状，设计了机器人辅助内镜手术系统，使医生可 以远程控制手术室的操作器完成内镜和手术器械的操作，实现诊断和治疗的目的．文章详细 介绍了系统的研制背景、总体设计、内镜操作器子系统原型样机设计及实验，并结合系统开 发对医疗外科机器人的人机交互接口、安全性及临床应用等问题进行了讨论．     

Robots for minimally invasive diagnosis and intervention

Minimally invasive diagnosis and interventions provide many benefits such as higher efficiency, safer, minimum pain, quick recovery etc. over conventional way for many procedures. Large robots such as da-Vinci are being used in this purpose, whereas research of miniature robots for laparoscopic and endoscopic use, is growing in the recent years. A comprehensive literature search is performed using keywords’ laparoscopic robot, capsule endoscope, surgical medical robot etc. primarily for the time period of 2000–2015. The articles relevant to the theme of the paper are reviewed and included in the paper. This paper concentrates medical robots for minimally invasive diagnosis and intervention in general and propulsions of miniature robots in particular. Robots are classified and compared using critical characteristics and summarized in Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, Table 4, Table 5, Table 6. Large robots such as da-Vinci are successfully used in many procedures e.g. neurosurgery, cardiothoracic surgery etc. However there are needs for more functionality which might lead to flexible robots. For miniature robots, each propulsion mechanism has some advantages and disadvantages. While external magnetic propulsions have potential to provide propulsion without increasing the robot size, they lack precise position control and may require expensive and bulky equipment. On the other hand internal propulsions have the capability of precise position control but require mechanisms which need substantial amount of power to drive. Hybrid propulsion which combines best features of both internal and external propulsions could be a solution for this. Robots have improved the healthcare services for many medical procedures. However, still there are challenges to address to enable use of medical robots universally inside and outside hospitals for diagnosis and interventions.     

柔性内镜介入机器人模糊PID控制研究

柔性内镜以其损伤小、检查直观等优势在消化道疾病的诊断与治疗上得到广泛的应用,但其操作困难,因此研发有内镜机器人辅助医生进行内镜操作。在镜下介入手术操作过程中,人体生理活动增加了内镜远程操作的难度。针对生理活动对目标靶点位置的影响,分析内镜弯曲段结构,建立了柔性内镜机器人的运动学模型,并引入模糊PID控制策略来适应人体解剖结构、内镜参数等不确定因素影响,使内镜自动跟踪病灶靶点,避免人重复小范围的跟踪动作,提高控制精度。仿真表明,相对于传统PID控制算法,模糊PID控制算法可加快系统响应,降低系统稳态误差。     

Design of a Haptic Interface for a Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Simulation

This paper presents a new design and analysis of a haptic interface for a gastrointestinal endoscopy simulation. The gastrointestinal endoscopy is a procedure in which the digestive tract and organs of a patient are diagnosed and treated using a long and flexible endoscope. The developed haptic interface incorporates two degrees of freedom (DOF), each of which is necessary to describe the movements of an endoscope during the actual endoscopy procedures. The haptic interface has a translational motion mechanism to implement the insertion movement of the endoscope, and a rotational motion mechanism to implement the rotational movement of the endoscope. The endoscope included in the haptic interface is supported by a folding guide to prevent the endoscope from buckling. Force feedback in each direction is provided by wire-driven mechanisms. The developed haptic interface has a workspace, sensitivity, and maximum attainable force and torque enough to simulate the endoscopy procedures such as colonoscopy, upper GI (gastrointestinal) endoscopy, and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). The developed haptic interface is applied to implementation of a colonoscopy simulation. Performance including force bandwidth is evaluated through experiments and simulation.     

微小气动机器人系统的模糊自适应PID控制

基于尺蠖的移动机理,研制了一种具有柔性移动机构的微小气动机器人内窥镜诊疗系统。描述了微机器人系统的本体结构和运动机理,并通过分析机器人系统的驱动力学特性和机器人的移动控制特性,给出了基于模糊自适应PID的气压-位置伺服控制方法,计算机仿真实验结果表明基于模糊自适应PID算法可实现机器人系统的有效控制。     

Comparing endoscopic systems on two simulated tasks

Endoscopes are slender instruments for performing medical procedures through small incisions or natural body orifices. Three experiments examined the performance effects of various endoscope systems when naive participants executed tasks in a bladder-like environment. The systems involved a direct endoscope, requiring the user to look through a lens at the outer part of the endoscope, and a video endoscope that picks up the image via a camera attached to the endoscope and displays it on a video monitor. The results indicate that the participants performed the tasks better with video than with direct endoscopes, and showed more transfer of practice with video endoscopic surgery from a small to a large task environment than vice versa. The optimal position of the monitor with video endoscopic surgery appeared to involve a reasonable angle relative to the operating area (45° was used). Performance was less at a greater angle (90°), but also at a small angle (10°). It did not matter whether the monitor was located left, right or above the operating area. As performance did not fully transfer to differently sized task environments, endoscopists should initially train with task environments of different, and especially small, sizes.     

Comparing endoscopic systems on two simulated tasks

Endoscopes are slender instruments for performing medical procedures through small incisions or natural body orifices. Three experiments examined the performance effects of various endoscope systems when naive participants executed tasks in a bladder-like environment. The systems involved a direct endoscope, requiring the user to look through a lens at the outer part of the endoscope, and a video endoscope that picks up the image via a camera attached to the endoscope and displays it on a video monitor. The results indicate that the participants performed the tasks better with video than with direct endoscopes, and showed more transfer of practice with video endoscopic surgery from a small to a large task environment than vice versa. The optimal position of the monitor with video endoscopic surgery appeared to involve a reasonable angle relative to the operating area (45 degrees was used). Performance was less at a greater angle (90 degrees), but also at a small angle (10 degrees). It did not matter whether the monitor was located left, right or above the operating area. As performance did not fully transfer to differently sized task environments, endoscopists should initially train with task environments of different, and especially small, sizes.     

Spatial Motion Constraints Using Virtual Fixtures Generated by Anatomy

This paper describes a spatial-motion-constraints-generation approach for a human-machine collaborative surgical-assistant system from registered computer tomography models. We extend constrained optimization formulation incorporating task goals, anatomy-based constraints, "no fly zones," etc. We use a fast potential-collision-constraint-detection method based on a 3-D surface model and covariance tree data structure. These boundary constraints, along with task behaviors and joint limits, serve as constraint conditions for constrained robot control. We are able to follow a complex path inside a human skull, phantom represented by a surface model composed of 99 000 vertices and 182 000 triangles in real time. Our approach enables real-time task-based control of a surgical robot in a precise interactive minimally invasive surgery task. We illustrate our approach based on two example tasks which are analogous to the procedures in endoscopic sinus surgery, and analyze the user's performance on both teleoperation and cooperative control for one of the example tasks. The experimental results show that a robotic assistant employing our approach on spatial motion constraints can assist the user in skilled manipulation tasks, while maintaining desired properties. Our approach is equally applicable to teleoperative and cooperative controlled robots     

Trajectory control of a two DOF rigid–flexible space robot by a virtual space vehicle

Model based control schemes use inverse dynamics of the robot arm to produce the main torque component necessary for trajectory tracking. For a model-based controller one is required to know the model parameters accurately. This is a very difficult job especially if the manipulator is flexible. This paper presents a control scheme for trajectory control of the tip of a two arm rigid–flexible space robot, with the help of a virtual space vehicle. The flexible link is modeled as an Euler–Bernoulli beam. The developed controller uses the inertial parameters of the base of the space robot only. Bond graph modeling is used to model the dynamics of the system and to devise the control strategy. The efficacy of the controller is shown through simulated and animation results.     

Application of visual tracking for robot‐assisted laparoscopic surgery

With the increasing popularity of laparoscopic surgery, the demand for better modes of laparoscopic surgery also increases. The current laparoscopic surgery mode requires an assistant to hold and manipulate the endoscope through commands from the surgeon. However, during lengthy surgery procedures, accurate and on‐time adjustment of the camera cannot be guaranteed due to the fatigue and hand trembling of the camera assistant. This article proposes a practical visual tracking method to achieve automated instrument localization and endoscope maneuvering in robot‐assisted laparoscopic surgery. Solutions concerning this approach, such as, endoscope calibration, marker design, distortion correction, and endoscope manipulator design are described in detail. Experimental results are presented to show the feasibility of the proposed method. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Human–robot skills transfer interfaces for a flexible surgical robot

In minimally invasive surgery, tools go through narrow openings and manipulate soft organs to perform surgical tasks. There are limitations in current robot-assisted surgical systems due to the rigidity of robot tools. The aim of the STIFF-FLOP European project is to develop a soft robotic arm to perform surgical tasks. The flexibility of the robot allows the surgeon to move within organs to reach remote areas inside the body and perform challenging procedures in laparoscopy. This article addresses the problem of designing learning interfaces enabling the transfer of skills from human demonstration. Robot programming by demonstration encompasses a wide range of learning strategies, from simple mimicking of the demonstrator's actions to the higher level imitation of the underlying intent extracted from the demonstrations. By focusing on this last form, we study the problem of extracting an objective function explaining the demonstrations from an over-specified set of candidate reward functions, and using this information for self-refinement of the skill. In contrast to inverse reinforcement learning strategies that attempt to explain the observations with reward functions defined for the entire task (or a set of pre-defined reward profiles active for different parts of the task), the proposed approach is based on context-dependent reward-weighted learning, where the robot can learn the relevance of candidate objective functions with respect to the current phase of the task or encountered situation. The robot then exploits this information for skills refinement in the policy parameters space. The proposed approach is tested in simulation with a cutting task performed by the STIFF-FLOP flexible robot, using kinesthetic demonstrations from a Barrett WAM manipulator.     

Perceptual distortions produce multidimensional stress profiles in novice users of an endoscopic surgery simulator

OBJECTIVES: We determine the impact of perceptual-motor distortions on multidimensional stress dynamics in novice users of an endoscopic/laparoscopic surgery simulator during performance of a peg-transfer task. BACKGROUND: Surgeons find the endoscopic/laparoscopic surgery procedure to be more mentally stressful than open surgery. This investigation was designed to identify specific stress dimensions associated with these procedures and to determine the contributions to that stress made by loss of depth information resulting from image-guided views of the surgical field and by disruption of eye-hand mapping. Because stress reactions might depend upon familiarity with these procedures, the study focused upon novice participants. METHOD: An endoscopic box-simulator featured in surgical training was used in conjunction with the Dundee Stress State Questionnaire, a well-validated multidimensional stress state instrument. A control group (no perceptual distortions) viewed the simulated "surgical field" directly. Two other groups viewed the surgical field through TV images in which spatial rotation of the images was absent or in which the images were rotated 90 degrees from the actual line of sight. RESULTS: Performance efficiency in the simulator varied inversely with the degree of perceptual-motor distortion. Reactions reflecting increased task coping were observed in all groups. These were accompanied in the image groups by negative reactions involving decreases in hedonic tone and control and confidence and an increase in tense arousal. CONCLUSIONS: Perceptual-motor distortions are sources of complex task-induced stress profiles in novices using an endoscopic surgery simulator. APPLICATION: Procedures to reduce stress in endoscopic/laparoscopic surgery trainees may benefit from knowledge regarding specific stress dimensions involved.     

钢结构建筑探伤机器人刚柔耦合空间位姿解析与实验研究

针对传统钢结构建筑健康监测中存在检测盲区和检测不全面的问题,研究了磁吸附式刚柔耦合柔性探伤机器人并对其控制系统进行了改进．建立了柔性机器人前、后车体位移和姿态运动学数学模型与机器人刚柔耦合结构位姿解算方程,通过惯性测量单元和编码器获取柔性探伤机器人前、后车体实时动态位姿参数,分别采用显性互补滤波器和扩展卡尔曼滤波器解算前、后车体在不同工况中的静态、动态姿态,利用航迹推算算法确定机器人的位置,通过数据融合得到柔性机器人刚柔耦合结构的空间位姿．实验结果表明,扩展卡尔曼滤波算法的动态跟踪性能更好,可为柔性探伤机器人在复杂建筑结构越障运动中提供精确的空间位姿参数．     

Open-hardware e-puck Linux extension board for experimental swarm robotics research

In this paper we describe the implementation of a Linux extension board for the e-puck educational mobile robot, designed to enhance the computation, memory and networking performance of the robot at very low cost. The extension board is based on a 32-bit ARM9 microprocessor and provides wireless network support. The ARM9 extension board runs in parallel with the dsPIC microprocessor on the e-puck motherboard with communication between the two via an SPI bus. The extension board is designed to handle computationally intensive image processing, wireless communication and high-level intelligent robot control algorithms, while the dsPIC handles low-level sensor interfacing, data processing and motor control. The extension board runs an embedded Linux operating system, along with a Debian-based port of the root file system stored in a Micro SD card. The extended e-puck robot platform requires minimal effort to integrate the well-known open-source robot control framework Player and, when placed within a TCP/IP networked infrastructure, provides a powerful and flexible platform for experimental swarm robotics research.     

Teamwork enables remote surgical control and a new model for a surgical system emerges

Technology has revolutionised surgery in minimising anatomical invasiveness and increasing the range of surgical interventions available. However, modern remote and robot assisted surgery places unorthodox demands on surgeons and on all those involved in surgical operations in the operating theatre/room. This system of work is of vital importance to surgical success. However, research for developing surgical technique focuses mainly on the surgeon’s interface with the operative site, neglecting the operating room system supporting that technique. Furthermore, there is yet no agreement on the framework for regularly organising this vital system and for optimising its design for interprofessional work. By expanding on the conventional human–machine interface, we develop a model depicting the surgeon controlling surgical action through the media and technology of the operating room system. We show how the operating room team mediate the control of the surgical operation. By viewing control and communication in the operating room as a property of a distributed or joint cognitive system, we emphasise the potential for the team, their media and technology to either impair or enhance surgical performance.     

Development and characterization of a multi-camera 2D-vision system for enhanced performance of a drink serving robotic cell

A 2D-vision system is integrated into a drink-serving robotic cell, to enhance its flexibility. Two videocameras are used in a hybrid configuration scheme. The former is rigidly mounted on the robot end effector, the latter is fixed to the workplace. The robot cell is based on two Denso robots that interoperate to simulate real human tasks. Blob analysis, template matching and edge detection algorithms cooperate with motion procedures for fast object recognition and flexible adaptation to the environment. The paper details the system workflow, with particular emphasis to the vision procedures. The experimental results show their performance in terms of flexibility and robustness against defocusing, lighting conditions and noise.     

基于非线性PID的柔性两轮机器人运动控制

柔性两轮机器人是一种不稳定、非线性、强耦合系统。该系统的突出特点是在机器人的腰部装有柔性的机体结构,能够更好地模拟人和动物的生物动力学特性,具有更好的仿生性质,同时,系统的控制难度显著增大,为使机器人能够平衡直立运动,且具有较强的鲁棒性,提出了非线性PD的姿态平衡控制方法,实现了机器人的姿态平衡,并同时设计了PID航向差动控制结构驱动左右轮电机,使机器人能够完成直线行进、自旋、环绕等多种运动平衡模式。实验结果表明,机器人具有优良的平衡能力和机动性能,从而验证了方法的有效性。     

Piecewise linear spine for speed–energy efficiency trade-off in quadruped robots

We compare the effects of linear and piecewise linear compliant spines on locomotion performance of quadruped robots in terms of energy efficiency and locomotion speed through a set of simulations and experiments. We first present a simple locomotion system that behaviorally resembles a bounding quadruped with flexible spine. Then, we show that robots with linear compliant spines have higher locomotion speed and lower cost of transportation in comparison with those with rigid spine. However, in linear case, optimal speed and minimum cost of transportation are attained at very different spine compliance values. Moreover, it is verified that fast and energy efficient locomotion can be achieved together when the spine flexibility is piecewise linear. Furthermore, it is shown that the robot with piecewise linear spine is more robust against changes in the load it carries. Superiority of piecewise linear spines over linear and rigid ones is additionally confirmed by simulating a quadruped robot in Webots and experiments on a crawling two-parts robot with flexible connection.     

A haptic interface for computer-integrated endoscopic surgery and training

Haptic feedback has the potential to provide superior performance in computer-integrated surgery and training. This paper discusses the design of a user interface that is capable of providing force feedback in all the degrees of freedom (DOFs) available during endoscopic surgery. Using the Jacobian matrix of the haptic interface and its singular values, methods are proposed for analysis and optimization of the interface performance with regard to the accuracy of force feedback, the range of applicable forces, and the accuracy of control. The haptic user interface is used with a sensorized slave robot to form a master–slave test-bed for studying haptic interaction in a minimally invasive environment. Using the master–slave test-bed, teleoperation experiments involving a single degree of freedom surgical task (palpation) are conducted. Different bilateral control methods are compared based on the transparency of the master–slave system in terms of transmitting the critical task-related information to the user in the context of soft-tissue surgical applications.     

Review of:“Design of Man-Computer Dialogues” By James Martin. (Englewood Cliffs,N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973.) [Pp. xiii+559.] £8.30.

Abstract

An electromyographical field study was performed in the operating theatre on four surgeons during 15 urological operations. In the course of the operations two endoscopic techniques were applied alternately: (1) direct endoscopy, and (2) monitor endoscopy. During direct endoscopy the surgeon looks into the urethra and the bladder via an endoscope. In monitor endoscopy, by contrast, the operating area is observed via a video system consisting of a camera mounted on top of the endoscope and a monitor. During the operations surface electro-myograms were derived from both trapezius muscles, the right deltoideus muscle and the left erector spinae muscle. An activity code describing the surgeons’ activity was additionally recorded. Analysis of the activity recording reveals that the monitor endoscopic method is preferred in the first third of the operations, whereas preference is given to the direct method in the last third. The electromyographical measurements indicate that during monitor endoscopy the myo-electrical activity of both trapezius muscles and of the right deltoideus muscle is significantly reduced in comparison with the activity for the direct endoscopic technique. A significant influence of the surgical technique on the myoelectrical activity could not be established for the erector spinae muscle. The electromyographical findings reveal that the activity of the shoulder musculature required for the maintenance of the posture and the performance of the operation is significantly lower in monitor endoscopy than in direct endoscopy. Consequently, a clear reduction in muscular strain can be achieved during the performance of endoscopic operations in urology if a video system is employed.