Shared Control Schemes for Middle Ear Surgery.

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Surgical Technology
• Control Systems

Background:

• Minimally invasive middle ear surgery presents challenges in precision and dexterity.
• Existing robotic control systems for surgery often require extensive operator training and can be complex to manage.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate shared control laws for a redundant cobot arm performing peg-in-hole insertion in simulated middle ear surgery.
• To enhance surgical precision and reduce operator workload through integrated visual and force/position feedback.

Main Methods:

• Investigated classical position-based tele-operation and comanipulation controllers.
• Developed novel shared control schemes combining visual feedback with position/force sensor data.
• Implemented controllers on a 7-Degrees of Freedom (DoF) robot arm with integrated sensors for simulated surgical tasks.

Main Results:

• The proposed shared controllers successfully enabled teleoperation of linear Degrees of Freedom (DoF) while vision-based control managed rotational Degrees of Freedom (DoF).
• Task complexity was significantly reduced, simplifying the peg-in-hole insertion for the operator.
• Experiments demonstrated high accuracy, improved ergonomics, and rapidity in the simulated surgical procedure.

Conclusions:

• Shared control laws integrating visual and sensor feedback offer a promising approach for robotic-assisted middle ear surgery.
• This method enhances operator control and task efficiency for intricate surgical maneuvers.
• The validated controllers have the potential to improve outcomes in minimally invasive surgical procedures.