Design of electromagnetic tracking system for puncture needle of an intelligent puncture robot.

OBJECTIVES: The puncture needle of an intelligent puncture robot must accurately reach the target location early in the diagnosis of benign and malignant nodules and in the puncture ablation of malignant tumors. To track the position and the orientation of the puncture needle tip, an electromagnetic tracking system based on adaptive adjustment of excitation intensity and lock-in amplification is proposed. METHODS: The system includes a time-sharing excitation device with multiple magnetic sources, a magnetic sensor, a signal processing device based on dual-phase lock-in amplifiers and a computing platform in the upper computer. With adaptive adjustment of excitation intensity, the time-sharing excitation device uses a microcontroller to control a direct digital synthesizer. Based on feedback from the magnetic sensor, the microcontroller time-shares the power amplifier to generate the required excitation current. Dual-phase lock-in amplifiers demodulate the magnetic sensor output after preamplification and filtering. Through analog-to-digital conversion and the serial interface, the digital signal is sent to the computing platform for solving by neighborhood particle swarm optimization algorithm, and the position and orientation of the puncture needle fixed with the magnetic sensor are obtained. RESULTS: The experimental results within a 300 mm×300 mm×300 mm space show average position errors of 0.4467 cm (X-axis), 0.4154 cm (Y-axis), and 0.3766 cm (Z-axis). The overall average position error is 0.4129 cm, with a root mean square error of 0.4970 cm. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed electromagnetic tracking system can track the needle position and orientation of puncture robots in real-time, thereby enhancing puncture success rates and reducing puncture times.

Application of Medical Image Navigation Technology in Minimally Invasive Puncture Robot.

Microneedle puncture is a standard minimally invasive treatment and surgical method, which is widely used in extracting blood, tissues, and their secretions for pathological examination, needle-puncture-directed drug therapy, local anaesthesia, microwave ablation needle therapy, radiotherapy, and other procedures. The use of robots for microneedle puncture has become a worldwide research hotspot, and medical imaging navigation technology plays an essential role in preoperative robotic puncture path planning, intraoperative assisted puncture, and surgical efficacy detection. This paper introduces medical imaging technology and minimally invasive puncture robots, reviews the current status of research on the application of medical imaging navigation technology in minimally invasive puncture robots, and points out its future development trends and challenges.

[Feasibility analysis of puncture robot technology for the application of acupuncture robot].

The difficulties such as how to accurately locate acupoints and safely insert needles are presented in acupuncture robot. The puncture robot with high technological similarity to acupuncture robot is getting mature, and a large number of human trials and animal experiments have been conducted for the development of puncture robot. Through comparing the similarities and differences between puncture robot and acupuncture robot in the aspects of through-skin puncture, needle insertion and needle removal, the valuable technology of puncture robot is analyzed for the development of acupuncture robot, and the crucial direction of technology migration is determined. ①Integrating the mechanical feedback and medical imaging technology and utilizing the multi-modal perception to achieve the safety of acupuncture operation. ②Emphasizing the integration of the existing designs of chest puncture robot to realize the acupuncture operation with inhalation and exhalation involved. ③Focusing on the development of relevant technology of automatic needle removal through conducting the actual scenario of treatment with acupuncture robot in patients under non-anaesthetic condition.

Feasibility analysis of puncture robot technology for the application of acupuncture robot / 中国针灸

The difficulties such as how to accurately locate acupoints and safely insert needles are presented in acupuncture robot. The puncture robot with high technological similarity to acupuncture robot is getting mature, and a large number of human trials and animal experiments have been conducted for the development of puncture robot. Through comparing the similarities and differences between puncture robot and acupuncture robot in the aspects of through-skin puncture, needle insertion and needle removal, the valuable technology of puncture robot is analyzed for the development of acupuncture robot, and the crucial direction of technology migration is determined. ①Integrating the mechanical feedback and medical imaging technology and utilizing the multi-modal perception to achieve the safety of acupuncture operation. ②Emphasizing the integration of the existing designs of chest puncture robot to realize the acupuncture operation with inhalation and exhalation involved. ③Focusing on the development of relevant technology of automatic needle removal through conducting the actual scenario of treatment with acupuncture robot in patients under non-anaesthetic condition.

Intraoperative localization of small pulmonary nodules to assist surgical resection: A novel approach using a surgical navigation puncture robot system.

BACKGROUND: Localization and resection of nonvisible, nonpalpable pulmonary nodules during video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery is challenging. In this study we developed a surgical navigation puncture robot system in order to locate small pulmonary nodules before thoracoscopic surgery. METHODS: Four pigs were divided into group A and group B and underwent positioning puncture with the aid of the robotic system. The pigs in group A breathed freely during the experiment, whilst mechanical ventilation was used on the pigs in group B. RESULTS: Using the robotic system to locate nodules achieved good results. For group A, a total of nine simulated nodules were created and successfully localized. The mean positioning accuracy was 9.6 ± 4.9 mm (range, 3.2-17.4 mm), and the time required for system positioning was 7.1 ± 1.0 minutes (range, 5.6-8.2 minutes). For group B, a total of 23 simulated nodules were created and successfully localized. The mean positioning accuracy was 2.9 ± 1.5 mm (range, 0.7-5.9 mm), and the time required for system positioning was 7.8 ± 1.1 minutes (range, 6.3-9.7 minutes). CONCLUSIONS: The new method using a surgical navigation puncture robot system to locate small pulmonary nodules is feasible and safe, and its positioning accuracy is sufficient to meet clinical requirements. In addition, results indicated that breathing had a great influence on the positioning accuracy, mainly in the longitudinal direction. Our surgical navigation puncture robot system has wide future applications for accurately locating small pulmonary nodules in a clinical setting. KEY POINTS: Significant findings of the study: A new method using a surgical navigation puncture robot system was developed to locate small pulmonary nodules before thoracoscopic surgery. The results indicated that this method can provide accurate localization and permit smaller and more precise resections. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS: A surgical navigation puncture robot system has wide future applications for accurately locating small pulmonary nodules in a clinical setting.

Design and control of a MRI-compatible pneumatic needle puncture robot.

Percutaneous needle puncture operation is widely used in the image-guided interventions, including biopsy and ablation. MRI guidance has the advantages of high-resolution soft tissue imaging and thermal monitoring during energy-based ablation. This paper proposes the design of a 5-DOF pneumatic needle puncture robot, with all the cylinders, sensors and structure material MRI-compatible. Also, a hybrid fuzzy-PID controller is designed for the pneumatic driven system to adjust the PID parameters adaptively. The experiment validation result shows that, compared with the traditional fix-parameter PID control, the proposed hybrid fuzzy-PID control has no overshoot, and the settle time/steady state error remains low even with increasing load. This proves that the hybrid fuzzy-PID control strategy can increases the positioning accuracy and robustness of the pneumatic driven needle puncture robot, which is significant for the safety of percutaneous needle puncture operation.