Autonomous aspirating robot for removing saliva blood mixed liquid in oral surgery

Saliva blood mixed liquid (SBML) appears in oral surgery, such as scaling and root planning, and it affects surgical vision and causes discomfort to the patient. However, removing SBML, i.e. frequent aspiration of the mixed liquid, is a routine task involving heavy workload and interruption of oral surgery. Therefore, it is valuable to alternate the manual mode by autonomous robotic technique. The robotic system is designed consisting of an RGB-D camera, a manipulator, a disposable oral aspirator. An algorithm is developed for detection of SBML. Path planning method is also addressed for the distal end of the aspirator. A workflow for removing SBML is presented. 95% of the area of the SBML in the oral cavity was removed after liquid aspiration among a group of ten SBML aspiration experiments. This study provides the first result of the autonomous aspirating robot (AAR) for removing SBML in oral surgery, demonstrating that SBML can be removed by the autonomous robot, freeing stomatology surgeon from tedious work.