Configuration optimization and experimental accuracy evaluation of a bone-attached, parallel robot for skull surgery

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Surgical Technology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Minimally invasive cochlear implantation demands precise surgical tool guidance.
• Existing methods may rely on complex surgical tracking systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and evaluate a passive, reconfigurable, parallel robot for accurate cochlear implantation guidance.
• To develop patient-specific optimization methods for the robot's accuracy and stability.
• To experimentally determine the achievable accuracy of the proposed robotic system.

Main Methods:

• Established a comprehensive error model for the robotic mechanism.
• Derived optimization criteria for robot configuration using task redundancy and reconfigurability.
• Estimated accuracy via Monte Carlo simulations and validated through drilling experiments on temporal bone specimens.

Main Results:

• The bone-attached robot achieved a mean targeting accuracy of [Formula: see text] mm under realistic conditions.
• A systematic targeting error was identified, suggesting potential for further accuracy improvements through kinematic parameter identification.

Conclusions:

• The demonstrated accuracy supports the robot's suitability for minimally invasive cochlear implantation.
• Further evaluation experiments on temporal bone specimens are planned to refine the system.