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At least 343 records · Page 19Linked to original sources

PubMed2001

Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy with a remote controlled robot.

PURPOSE: Robotics in surgery is a recent innovation. This technology offers a number of attractive features in laparoscopy. It overcomes the difficulties with fixed port sites by restoring all 6 degrees of freedom at the instrument tips, provides new possibilities for miniaturization of surgical tasks and allows remote controlled surgery. We investigated the applicability of remote controlled robotic surgery to laparoscopic radical prostatectomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Our previous experience with laparoscopic prostatectomy served as a basis for adapting robotic surgery to this procedure. A surgeon at a different location who activated the tele-manipulators of the da Vinci* robotic system performed all steps of the intervention. A scrub nurse and second surgeon who stood at patient side had limited roles to port and instrument placement, exposure of the operative field, assistance in hemostasis and removal of the operative specimen. Our patient was a 63-year-old man presenting with a T1c tumor discovered on 1 positive sextant biopsy with a 3+3 Gleason score and 7 ng./ml. preoperative serum prostate specific antigen. RESULTS: The robot provided an ergonomic surgical environment and remarkable dexterity enhancement. Operating time was 420 minutes, and the hospital stay lasted 4 days. The bladder catheter was removed 3 days postoperatively, and 1 week later the patient was fully continent. Pathological examination showed a pT3a tumor with negative margins. CONCLUSIONS: Robotically assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy is feasible. This new technology enhances surgical dexterity. Further developments in this field may have new applications in laparoscopic tele-surgery.

Humans↗

PubMed2002

Applications of robotic surgery in pediatric patients.

Minimally invasive surgery is increasingly becoming the standard approach to treatment for pediatric patients. Infants present a technical challenge due to the small size of structures and the small workspace available. Master-slave robotic surgical telemanipulators help overcome this challenge by facilitating microsurgery in a confined workspace. The Zeus Robotic Surgical System (Computer Motion, Inc., Goleta, CA, U.S.A.) was used to develop the robotic approach and to evaluate the technical feasibility of performing four technically challenging procedures that are typically performed in infants. Robotic enteroenterostomy, hepaticojejunostomy, portoenterostomy, and esophagoesophagostomy were performed in piglets and compared with the same procedures performed by standard minimally invasive techniques. Enteroenterostomy, hepaticojejunostomy, and esophagoesophagostomy procedures were successfully developed and are technically feasible. The portoenterostomy procedure needs further study to validate data from the second set of experiments, showing a lower complication rate in the robotic group. Survivor studies are needed to fully elucidate the advantages that may be provided by the robotic approach.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Successful transfer of open surgical skills to a laparoscopic environment using a robotic interface: initial experience with laparoscopic radical prostatectomy.

PURPOSE: For a skilled laparoscopic surgeon the learning curve for achieving proficiency with laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP) is estimated at 40 to 60 cases. For the laparoscopically naïve surgeon the curve is estimated at 80 to 100 cases. The development of a robotic interface might significantly shorten the LRP learning curve for an experienced open yet naïve laparoscopic surgeon. To our knowledge we report the initial experience with robot assisted LRP of a surgeon without laparoscopic experience. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Following a 1-day da Vinci (Intuitive Surgical, Mountain View, California) robotic laparoscopic training course and 2 cadaveric robotic LRPs an experienced oncologist (TEA) without laparoscopic experience performed 45 robotic LRPs. RESULTS: All procedures were successfully completed laparoscopically with no rectal injuries or transfusions. The learning curve to 4-hour proficiency was 12 patients and mean operating time subsequently was 3.45 hours (range 2.5 to 5.1). Mean blood loss was 145 cc (range 25 to 350), the mean postoperative day 1 decrease in hemoglobin was 2.6 mg/dl (range 1.9% to 5.1) and mean hospital stay was 36 hours (range 18 to 168). Mean Gleason score was 6.8, mean prostate volume was 50.5 gm (range 12.5 to 163) and the margin positive rate was 35.5%. Four patients (8.8%) had a total of 6 complications, which were managed conservatively. Catheterization time was 7 days (range 7 to 42). Continence (0 pads) was 33% at 1 week, 63% at 1 month and 81% at 3 months. CONCLUSIONS: A laparoscopically naïve yet experienced open surgeon successfully transferred open surgical skills to a laparoscopic environment in 8 to 12 cases using a robotic interface. This outcome is comparable to the reported experience of skilled laparoscopic surgeons after more than 100 LRPs.

Aged↗

PubMed2003

A test bed for insect-inspired robotic control.

Flying insects are remarkable examples of sophisticated sensory-motor control systems. Insects have solved the fundamental challenge facing the field of mobile robots: robust sensory-motor mapping. Control models based on insects can contribute much to the design of robotic control systems. We present our work on a preliminary robotic control system inspired by current behavioural and physiological models of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. We designed a five-degrees-of-freedom robotic system that serves as a novel simulation/mobile robot hybrid. This design has allowed us to implement a fly-inspired control system that uses visual and mechanosensory feedback. Our results suggest that a simple control scheme can yield surprisingly robust fly-like robotic behaviour.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

PubMed1997

Robotic and neuronal simulation of the hippocampus and rat navigation.

The properties of hippocampal place cells are reviewed, with particular attention to the nature of the internal and external signals that support their firing. A neuronal simulation of the firing of place cells in open-field environments of varying shape is presented. This simulation is coupled with an existing model of how place-cell firing can be used to drive navigation, and is tested by implementation as a miniature mobile robot. The sensors on the robot provide visual, odometric and short-range proximity data, which are combined to estimate the distance of the walls of the enclosure from the robot and the robot's current heading direction. These inputs drive the hippocampal simulation, in which the robot's location is represented as the firing of place cells. If a goal location is encountered, learning occurs in connections from the concurrently active place cells to a set of 'goal cells', which guide subsequent navigation, allowing the robot to return to an unmarked location. The system shows good agreement with actual place-cell firing, and makes predictions regarding the firing of cells in the subiculum, the effect of blocking long-term synaptic changes, and the locus of search of rats after deformation of their environment.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

A robotic system for crystallizing membrane and soluble proteins in lipidic mesophases.

A high-throughput robotic system has been developed for crystallizing membrane proteins using lipidic mesophases. It incorporates commercially available components and is relatively inexpensive. The crystallization robot uses standard automated liquid-handlers and a specially built device for accurately and reproducibly delivering nanolitre volumes of highly viscous protein/lipid mesophases. Under standard conditions, the robot uses just 20 nl protein solution, 30 nl lipid and 1 microl precipitant solution. 96 wells can be set up using the robot in 13 min. Trials are performed in specially designed 96-well glass plates. The slim (<2 mm high) plates have exquisite optical properties and are well suited for the detection of microcrystals and for birefringence-free imaging between crossed polarizers. Quantitative evaluation of the crystallization progress is performed using an automated imaging system. The optics, in combination with the slim crystallization plates, enables in-focus imaging of the entire well volume in a single shot such that a 96-well plate can be imaged in just 4.5 min. The performance characteristics of the robotic system and the versatility of the crystallization robot in performing vapor-diffusion, microbatch and bicelle crystallizations of membrane and soluble proteins are described.

Automation↗

PubMed2005

A nanovolume crystallization robot that creates its crystallization screens on-the-fly.

Protein crystallization generally consists of an initial screen followed by optimization of promising conditions. Whereas the initial screen typically uses a standard set of pre-made crystallization cocktails, optimization requires new cocktails with small perturbations of the original composition. Highly parallel synchronous crystallization robots are ideal for initial screening, but they depend on pre-made crystallization cocktails. Asynchronous crystallization robots can create crystallization cocktails from stock solutions, but in practice this ability is rarely exploited. Instead, large-scale operations typically use a general liquid-handling robot to create optimization screens, whereas academics mostly rely on manual optimization. Here, the use of an asynchronous crystallization robot to create customized crystallization cocktails and set up nanovolume crystallization experiments without a compromise in speed or drop quality is described. This approach avoids the complex integration of hardware, software and dataflow between two robots and saves cost and space. As a proof of principle, a commercial crystal screen has been reproduced with the robot and shows that results are virtually identical to using the actual commercial screen.

Combinatorial Chemistry Techniques↗

PubMed1999

CRIGOS: a compact robot for image-guided orthopedic surgery.

The CRIGOS (compact robot for image-guided orthopedic surgery) project was set up for the development of a compact surgical robot system for image-guided orthopedic surgery based on user requirements. The modular system comprises a compact parallel robot and a software system for planning of the surgical interventions and for supervision of the robotic device. Because it is not sufficient to consider only technical aspects in order to improve in clinical routine the therapeutic outcome of conventional interventions, a user-centered and task-oriented design process has been developed which also takes human factors into account. The design process for the CRIGOS system was started from requirement analysis of various orthopedic interventions using information gathered from literature, questionnaires, and workshops with domain experts. This resulted in identification of conventional interventions for which the robotic system would improve the medical and procedural quality. A system design concept has been elaborated which includes definitions of components, functionalities, and interfaces. Approaches to the acquisition of calibrated X-rays will be presented in the paper together with design and evaluation of a first human-computer interface. Finally, the first labtype parallel robot based on low-cost standard components is presented together with the first evaluation results concerning positioning accuracy.

Humans↗

PubMed2001

Localization and control of a rehabilitation mobile robot by close human-machine cooperation.

In the field of rehabilitation robotics, a mobile personal robot represents an attractive solution, especially in economic terms in comparison with a desktop workstation. A manipulator arm mounted on a mobile robot can facilitate the restoration of the disabled user's manipulative function. In order both to encourage the person to participate in the task at hand and to be cost effective, close human-machine cooperation is essential. The person controls the robot via a remote station and develops strategies to successfully carry out a mission. The main problems encountered by the person during the execution of a mission are electing to change modes, and the mode transition itself. We have examined two aspects of this cooperation: 1) information exchange between human and machine for decision-making and 2) giving to operators complementary and redundant modes to command the system. An experiment has been conducted to study these two aspects. This paper focuses on the control of robot movements in an indoor environment and especially on localization parameters, human-like robot behavior, and the value of proposing complementary control modes to the operator.

Persons with Disabilities↗

PubMed2000

Assessing human-robotic performance for vocational placement.

This paper describes the results of an exploratory study of the use of standard occupational therapy assessment tests to measure the effective manipulation ability of individuals with disabilities using a robotic aid. Robotic manipulators have been explored for use as a vocational accommodation to support the job placement of individuals with severe manipulation disabilities. One of the factors that has impeded the transfer of this work is the lack of practical information that is relevant to the vocational placement process. The preliminary performance data presented in this paper provides an indication of robot-assisted manipulation skill that rehabilitation professionals may use to better understand the potential for use of this technology in providing greater job opportunities for people with severe manipulation impairment. Three different assessment tests were administered to nine different subjects with severe physical disabilities using a computer-controlled robotic workstation to perform the manipulation requirements of the tests. In all cases, the subjects, who were otherwise unable to physically perform the tasks without the robot, were able to perform manipulation tasks a factor of 20-700 times less than that of the performance indicated in published norms. Although these performance levels are modest in terms of nondisabled populations, supporting data is also provided that suggests that individuals with severe manipulation deficits could have access to a much wider range of vocational opportunities with an appropriate implementation of robot technology.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed2005

A tele-operated mobile ultrasound scanner using a light-weight robot.

This paper presents a new tele-operated robotic chain for real-time ultrasound image acquisition and medical diagnosis. This system has been developed in the frame of the Mobile Tele-Echography Using an Ultralight Robot European Project. A light-weight six degrees-of-freedom serial robot, with a remote center of motion, has been specially designed for this application. It holds and moves a real probe on a distant patient according to the expert gesture and permits an image acquisition using a standard ultrasound device. The combination of mechanical structure choice for the robot and dedicated control law, particularly nearby the singular configuration allows a good path following and a robotized gesture accuracy. The choice of compression techniques for image transmission enables a compromise between flow and quality. These combined approaches, for robotics and image processing, enable the medical specialist to better control the remote ultrasound probe holder system and to receive stable and good quality ultrasound images to make a diagnosis via any type of communication link from terrestrial to satellite. Clinical tests have been performed since April 2003. They used both satellite or Integrated Services Digital Network lines with a theoretical bandwidth of 384 Kb/s. They showed the tele-echography system helped to identify 66% of lesions and 83% of symptomatic pathologies.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2005

Patient-cooperative strategies for robot-aided treadmill training: first experimental results.

Task-oriented repetitive movements can improve motor performance in patients with neurological or orthopaedic lesions. The application of robotics and automation technology can serve to assist, enhance, evaluate, and document neurological and orthopedic rehabilitation. This paper deals with the application of "patient-cooperative" techniques to robot-aided gait rehabilitation of neurological disorders. We define patient-cooperative to mean that, during movement, the technical system takes into account the patient's intention and voluntary efforts rather than imposing any predefined movements or inflexible strategies. It is hypothesized that such cooperative robotic approaches can improve the therapeutic outcome compared to classical rehabilitation strategies. New cooperative strategies are presented that detect the patient's voluntary efforts. First, this enables the patient increased freedom of movement by a certain amount of robot compliance. Second, the robot behavior adapts to the existing voluntary motor abilities. And third, the robotic system displays and improves the patient contribution by visual biofeedback. Initial experimental results are presented to evaluate the basic principle and technical function of proposed approaches. Further improvements of the technical design and additional clinical testing is required to prove whether the therapeutic outcome can be enhanced by such cooperative strategies.

Exercise Test↗

PubMed2004

An intelligent service-based network architecture for wearable robots.

We are developing a novel robot concept called the wearable robot. Wearable robots are mobile information devices capable of supporting remote communication and intelligent interaction between networked entities. In this paper, we explore the possible functions of such a robotic network and will present a distributed network architecture based on service components. In order to support the interaction and communication between the components in the wearable robot system, we have developed an intelligent network architecture. This service-based architecture involves three major mechanisms. The first mechanism involves the use of a task coordinator service such that the execution of the services can be managed using a priority queue. The second mechanism enables the system to automatically push the required service proxy to the client intelligently based on certain system-related conditions. In the third mechanism, we allow the system to automatically deliver services based on contextual information. Using a fuzzy-logic-based decision making system, the matching service can determine whether the service should be automatically delivered utilizing the information provided by the service, client, lookup service, and context sensors. An application scenario has been implemented to demonstrate the feasibility of this distributed service-based robot architecture. The architecture is implemented as extensions to the Jini network model.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2005

Modeling and controlling a robotic convoy using guidance laws strategies.

This paper deals with the problem of modeling and controlling a robotic convoy. Guidance laws techniques are used to provide a mathematical formulation of the problem. The guidance laws used for this purpose are the velocity pursuit, the deviated pursuit, and the proportional navigation. The velocity pursuit equations model the robot's path under various sensors based control laws. A systematic study of the tracking problem based on this technique is undertaken. These guidance laws are applied to derive decentralized control laws for the angular and linear velocities. For the angular velocity, the control law is directly derived from the guidance laws after considering the relative kinematics equations between successive robots. The second control law maintains the distance between successive robots constant by controlling the linear velocity. This control law is derived by considering the kinematics equations between successive robots under the considered guidance law. Properties of the method are discussed and proven. Simulation results confirm the validity of our approach, as well as the validity of the properties of the method. Index Terms-Guidance laws, relative kinematics equations, robotic convoy, tracking.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2006

Line of sight robot navigation toward a moving goal.

In this paper, we consider the problem of robot tracking and navigation toward a moving goal. The goal's maneuvers are not a priori known to the robot. Thus, off-line strategies are not effective. To model the robot and the goal, we use geometric rules combined with kinematics equations expressed in a polar representation. The intent of the strategy is to keep the robot between a reference point, called the observer, and the goal. We prove under certain assumptions that the robot navigating using this strategy reaches the moving goal successfully. In the presence of obstacles, the method is combined with an obstacle avoidance algorithm. The robot then moves in two modes, the navigation mode and the obstacle avoidance mode. Simulation of various scenarios highlights the efficiency of the method and provides an instructive comparison between the paths obtained for different reference points.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2006

An efficient dynamic system for real-time robot-path planning.

This paper presents a simple yet efficient dynamic-programming (DP) shortest path algorithm for real-time collision-free robot-path planning applicable to situations in which targets and barriers are permitted to move. The algorithm works in real time and requires no prior knowledge of target or barrier movements. In the case that the barriers are stationary, this paper proves that this algorithm always results in the robot catching the target, provided it moves at a greater speed than the target, and the dynamic-system update frequency is sufficiently large. Like most robot-path-planning approaches, the environment is represented by a topologically organized map. Each grid point on the map has only local connections to its neighboring grid points from which it receives information in real time. The information stored at each point is a current estimate of the distance to the nearest target and the neighbor from which this distance was determined. Updating the distance estimate at each grid point is done using only the information gathered from the point's neighbors, that is, each point can be considered an independent processor, and the order in which grid points are updated is not determined based on global knowledge of the current distances at each point or the previous history of each point. The robot path is determined in real time completely from the information at the robot's current grid-point location. The computational effort to update each point is minimal, allowing for rapid propagation of the distance information outward along the grid from the target locations. In the static situation, where both the targets and the barriers do not move, this algorithm is a DP solution to the shortest path problem, but is restricted by lack of global knowledge. In this case, this paper proves that the dynamic system converges in a small number of iterations to a state where the minimal distance to a target is recorded at each grid point and shows that this robot-path-planning algorithm can be made to always choose an optimal path. The effectiveness of this algorithm is demonstrated through a number of simulations.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2004

Biomimetic robotics should be based on functional morphology.

Due to technological improvements made during the last decade, bipedal robots today present a surprisingly high level of humanoid skill. Autonomy, with respect to the processing of information, is realized to a relatively high degree. What is mainly lacking in robotics, moving from purely anthropomorphic robots to 'anthropofunctional' machines, is energetic autonomy. In a previously published analysis, we showed that closer attention to the functional morphology of human walking could give robotic engineers the experiences of an at least 6 Myr beta test period on minimization of power requirements for biped locomotion. From our point of view, there are two main features that facilitate sustained walking in modern humans. The first main feature is the existence of 'energetically optimal velocities' provided by the systematic use of various resonance mechanisms: (a). suspended pendula (involving arms as well as legs in the swing phase of the gait cycle) and matching of the pendular length of the upper and lower limbs; (b). inverted pendula (involving the legs in the stance phase), driven by torsional springs around the ankle joints; and (c). torsional springs in the trunk. The second main feature is compensation for undesirable torques induced by the inertial properties of the swinging extremities: (a). mass distribution in the trunk characterized by maximized mass moments of inertia; (b). lever arms of joint forces at the hip and shoulder, which are inversely proportional to their amplitude; and (c). twisting of the trunk, especially torsion. Our qualitative conclusions are three-fold. (1). Human walking is an interplay between masses, gravity and elasticity, which is modulated by musculature. Rigid body mechanics is insufficient to describe human walking. Thus anthropomorphic robots completely following the rules of rigid body mechanics cannot be functionally humanoid. (2). Humans are vertebrates. Thus, anthropomorphic robots that do not use the trunk for purposes of motion are not truly humanoid. (3). The occurrence of a waist, especially characteristic of humans, implies the existence of rotations between the upper trunk (head, neck, pectoral girdle and thorax) and the lower trunk (pelvic girdle) via an elastic joint (spine, paravertebral and abdominal musculature). A torsional twist around longitudinal axes seems to be the most important.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The Leipzig experience with robotic valve surgery.

OBJECTIVES: The study describes the single-center experience using robot-assisted videoscopic mitral valve surgery and the early results with a remote telemanipulator-assisted approach for mitral valve repair. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Out of a series of 230 patients who underwent minimally invasive mitral valve surgery, in 167 patients surgery was performed with the use of robotic assistance. A voice-controlled robotic arm was used for videoscopic guidance in 152 cases. Most recently, a computer-enhanced telemanipulator was used in 15 patients to perform the operation remotely. RESULTS: The mitral valve was repaired in 117 and replaced in all other patients. The voice-controlled robotic arm (AESOP 3000) facilitated videoscopic-assisted mitral valve surgery. The procedure was completed without the need for an additional assistant as "solo surgery." Additional procedures like radiofrequency ablation and tricuspid valve repair were performed in 21 and 4 patients, respectively. Duration of bypass and clamp time was comparable to conventional procedures (107 A 34 and 50 A 16 min, respectively). Hospital mortality was 1.2%. Using the da Vinci telemanipulation system, remote mitral valve repair was successfully performed in 13 of 15 patients. CONCLUSION: Robotic-assisted less invasive mitral valve surgery has evolved to a reliable technique with reproducible results for primary operations and for reoperations. Robotic assistance has enabled a solo surgery approach. The combination with radiofrequency ablation (Mini Maze) in patients with chronic atrial fibrillation has proven to be beneficial. The use of telemanipulation systems for remote mitral valve surgery is promising, but a number of problems have to be solved before the introduction of a closed chest mitral valve procedure.

Adult↗