Robotic system with multiplex power transmission for MRI-guided percutaneous interventions

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Medical Imaging
• Surgical Technology

Background:

• Minimally invasive prostate interventions increasingly utilize robotic systems.
• Existing Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)-compatible robotic systems often require multiple motors for complex tasks.
• There is a need for more streamlined and efficient robotic assistive systems in MRI-guided procedures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel MRI-compatible transmission design for robotic assistive systems.
• To enable a single driving motor to control a multiplexed multi-degrees of freedom (DOF) robot.
• To reduce the overall number of motors in MRI-compatible robotic systems for prostate interventions.

Main Methods:

• Designed a novel transmission system allowing sequential control of robot DOFs using one motor.
• Integrated the transmission into an MRI-compatible robotic system.
• Conducted preliminary experiments and a targeting accuracy test to evaluate system performance.

Main Results:

• The novel transmission successfully allows one motor to control multiple DOFs sequentially.
• The system demonstrated maintained functionality despite a reduced motor count.
• Preliminary experiments and accuracy tests validated the system's performance.

Conclusions:

• The developed MRI-compatible transmission offers a viable solution for simplifying robotic systems in minimally invasive prostate interventions.
• This design reduces hardware complexity and potentially cost while preserving essential robotic functionality.
• Further validation through clinical studies is warranted to assess its full potential in surgical applications.