Stable Tracking-in-the-Loop Control of Cable-Driven RCM Surgical Manipulators under Erroneous Kinematic Chains

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Surgical Technology
• Control Systems

Background:

• Remote Center of Motion (RCM) robotic manipulators are crucial for Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS).
• Accurate control of RCM tools is essential for autonomous surgical subtasks and improved patient outcomes.
• Cable-driven RCM systems suffer from joint reading errors that compromise kinematic computations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address irreparable kinematic errors in the out-of-view portion of RCM manipulator chains.
• To design and validate a provably stable tracking-in-the-loop controller for these unobservable errors.
• To advance the transition from teleoperated to autonomous robotic surgery.

Main Methods:

• Developed a novel tracking-in-the-loop controller specifically for the out-of-view kinematic chain.
• Integrated this controller into a bilevel control scheme for the entire RCM manipulator.
• Conducted rigorous benchmarking in both simulated and real-world experimental settings.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated a provably stable control strategy for previously uncorrectable joint errors in RCM manipulators.
• Validated the controller's effectiveness through comprehensive simulations and physical experiments.
• Provided empirical evidence supporting the theoretical stability findings.

Conclusions:

• The developed controller effectively compensates for out-of-view joint errors in RCM systems.
• This work establishes a foundation for enhancing the reliability of autonomous robotic surgery.
• Key insights are provided for future advancements in surgical robotics and automation.