RAS Research Projects

Project objective

The hypothesis under study in the project is that ‘tissue damage in surgery is significantly lower when monitoring the tissue stresses and limiting the instrument forces, without compromising the functionality of the surgeon’. The project can be subdivided into a fundamental research track investigating the link between mechanical loading and tissue damage, and an implementation research track in which the concept of safety thresholds will be implemented on a surgical robot.

The core task of the fundamental research track is to experimentally fix tissue damage thresholds for the clamping of an aorta in healthy and in atherosclerotic rats. This will be done by means of functional and histological damage quantification followed by the definition of tissue- and patient-specifich thresholds, based on biomechanical models. In the implementation research track a method for online determination of surgical instrument thresholds will be developed, and a surgical system will be equipped with an ‘intelligent’ component that ensures the limitation of the instrument force. This core task will result in a closed-loop validation experiment, that will test the aforementioned hypothesis, thereby showing the potential of safety thresholds to reduce intra- and postoperative complications.

Besides the core task, a feasibility study will be performed w.r.t. the extrapolation of the concept towards larger animals and towards the clinical situation.

Partners

• BMGO: www.mech.kuleuven.be/en/bmgo/
• PMA: www.mech.kuleuven.be/en/pma/
• ECS (Experimental cardiac surgery): www.kuleuven.be/ceha/
• VRC (Vesalius research centre): www.vrc-lab.be

Project details

Project objective

The primary objective of SCATh is to enhance the safety, repeatability and precision of catheter-based interventional treatments. This will be achieved by bringing recent innovations in sensing and scanning technologies together with novel methods for data fusion, visualisation, surgical navigation and real-time modelling into a complete catheter system targeting four specific cardiovascular interventions.

• Positioning of endovascular grafts
• Transcatheter aortic valve replacement
• Positioning and deployment of endoclamp balloon
• Percutaneous radiofrequency catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation treatment

Project details

Project Summary

The feasibility of bilateral teleoperation was already shown in earlier experimental teleoperation setups in research facilities. However, the development of robust bilateral controllers that maintain stability in contact with arbitrary operators and environments remains a big challenge. Also continuous scale adaptation has no precedence. Apart from these elements there is a need for good training systems that can reliably simulate a surgical teleoperation with the system we have in mind.
Especially the representation of hard contacts (with bones, or between tools) cannot be represented realistically with current haptic devices. To counter above shortcomings the following targets were set in STREAM :

• to develop a framework for robust bilateral control
• to develop a framework for robust variable-scale bilateral control
• to develop the technology to build a realistic training environment including hard contacts

Project Details

More information

• Vesalius Web Site

IDO-Laser

The project aims at developing a generic technology for intelligent robotic surgery. To achieve this goal, a number of underlying technologies will be developed and integrated: a robotised laparoscope with five degrees of freedom, an intuitive user interface based on writing, an endoscopic 3D vision system with image processing algorithms and an autofocus facility. Clinical evaluation will be carried out along with developing appropriate surgical procedures.

More information

• project description

VESALIUS, A Seed for the Future

The VESALIUS Robot is the first surgical robot which is 100% designed, built and owned by K.U.Leuven. Its goal is to provide accuracy, dexterity, stability and safety in laparoscopic CO2 laser ablation. In addition, thanks to its patent-pending Adjustable Remote Center of Motion (ARCM) mechanism and its modular design, VESALIUS as it is now can already provide the functions as a laparoscope holder robot. With additional R&D in MEMS, HMI, image processing, ergonomics, force feedback, biosensors, image sensors, surgical integration etc., the VESALIUS Robot platform can be easily customized, upgraded and transformed to implement all other potential robot aided MIS procedures.

The ARIS*ER Challenge

To provide the doctor with decision support for treatment by communicating comprehensive information from multiple sources, to guide the procedure by means of visual and haptic feedback. Guidance is based on several imaging modalities, such as ultrasound, MRI and video-endoscopy. Through this research, a group of young researchers is being trained to work internationally and multidisciplinary. The team is working across the boarders of medical interventions, information and communication technology development, and user interface design.

User-centered design

The doctor will be in control of provided information: when and what is provided, free angle choice, Visual and haptic information to match human sensory and cognitive strategies and capacities, Planning data will be brought into the Operating Room, Interface adapts to the procedure, Easy to use and easy to learn interface. ARIS*ER research and development: is centered on clinical applications: Laparoscopic liver resection Endoscopic mitral valve repair/replacement MRI guided RF ablation ARIS*ER Output: Working prototypes, tested in the hospital and scientific knowledge for product development.

Project objective

A force feedback system returns a single value of the experienced force. A surgeon, however, often uses palpation, and with that his sense of touch, to make decisions in open operation. He feels the pressure distribution on the surface of his finger and can observe a number of features in the tissue. When the endoscope is obstructed it can also be useful to guide the instruments by hand. The aim of this research is to make tactile feedback available during minimally invasive surgery.

Project details

Project objective

To give the surgeon the possibility to operate within a larger volume without trocar replacement, to allow him or her work behind organs and to increase the number of possible operations, instruments with more degrees of freedom inside the human body need to be developed. To achieve this, small actuators with a high force and power density are required. Hydraulic actuators can be used for this.

The manipulator in this research consists of multiple segments with two bending degrees of freedom per segment. Because the pressure control is integrated inside the segments, multiple degrees of freedom can be controlled without numerous supply tubes. For safety reasons the hydraulic fluid is water. As the volume within the segments is limited, dedicated miniature valves control the pressure in the actuators.

This research is sponsored by the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT-Vlaanderen).