OpenIGTLink interface for state control and visualisation of a robot for image-guided therapy systems

Area of Science:

• Medical Robotics
• Image-Guided Therapy
• Surgical Workflow Optimization

Background:

• Integrating robots into image-guided therapy systems is complex due to a lack of standardized interdevice communication.
• Robots have distinct workflows during surgery that differ from surgeon workflows, complicating integration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To simplify robot integration into image-guided therapy systems.
• To develop an open interface with state control, visualization, and sensor classes.
• To incorporate a state machine for robot control aligned with surgical procedures.

Main Methods:

• A KUKA Light Weight Robot was integrated using 3D Slicer for visualization and state control.
• The OpenIGTLink protocol was implemented for network communication.
• A state machine for image-guided therapy interventions and an OpenIGTLink-based interface for robot control and visualization were developed.

Main Results:

• The 3D Slicer module successfully operated the state machine at a 20 Hz cycle rate with no data loss over 270 seconds.
• Robot pose data was transmitted at over 60 Hz.
• Communication threads did not impact state machine performance.

Conclusions:

• Simplified robot integration was achieved by consolidating the state machine, interfaces, and robot control within a single programming context.
• The developed state machine is easily expandable for future enhancements.