Bedside Admittance Control of a Dual-Segment Soft Robot for Catheter-Based Interventions

Robotic catheters enable precise steering of their distal tip while inside the body's blood vessels, and with this ability comes the need for control systems that fit into the clinical workflow. In this study, we propose a novel bedside admittance controller composed of a force/torque sensor with a 3D-printed handle and a low-profile table mount. The controller is intended to be placed at the insertion site to the body and allows simultaneous insertion and steering of a dual-segment fluid-actuated soft robot catheter. This teleoperated system is characterized and evaluated in a simulated cardiac ablation task using a two dimensional 3D-printed atrium-like cavity. Four novices controlled the soft robot catheter with an average position error of 0.4 mm and angle error of 4.6 degrees, as compared to position error of 1.0 mm and angle error of 18.2 degrees attained by an expert cardiologist using a standard ablation catheter. The controller enables intuitive control of a dual channel soft robot and the preliminary results indicate the potential advantage of such an approach in catheter-based interventions with increasingly complex catheter robots.