Autonomous robotic intraocular surgery for targeted retinal injections.

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Robotics
• Medical Technology

Background:

• Intraocular surgery faces challenges in environmental perception and instrument depth estimation.
• Autonomous surgery offers enhanced consistency, improved patient safety, and reduced training times.
• Current limitations hinder widespread adoption in remote or extreme environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an autonomous robotic system for intraocular surgery (ARISE).
• To achieve targeted retinal injections with enhanced precision and safety.
• To demonstrate the clinical feasibility of autonomous microsurgical robots.

Main Methods:

• Developed the ARISE system with multiview spatial fusion for accurate imaging and positioning.
• Implemented criterion-weighted multisensor data fusion to mitigate detection inconsistencies.
• Validated the system through subretinal and vascular injections in phantoms and animal models.

Main Results:

• Achieved 100% success rates for subretinal, CRV, and BRV injections in ex vivo and in vivo models.
• Reduced positioning errors by 79.87% compared to manual surgery and 54.61% compared to teleoperated robotic surgery.
• Demonstrated enhanced injection precision, safety, and consistency in autonomous intraocular procedures.

Conclusions:

• The ARISE system shows significant potential for autonomous intraocular microsurgery.
• Autonomous robotic surgery can overcome current limitations in precision and consistency.
• This technology promises to improve patient outcomes and expand surgical accessibility.