20 accepted papers
In robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery, optimal camera positioning is crucial for effective visualization and manipulation of tissues, which impacts the success of procedures. Traditional camera control can increase cognitive workload, lead to suboptimal camera viewpoints, and complicate surgi
This paper proposes a quality-driven adaptive control framework for robotic vascular anatomies scanning to facilitate the acquisition of high-quality ultrasound (US) images. Specifically, a novel probability-based US image quality evaluation metric for vascular anatomies is introduced, leveraging an
Exoscopes have emerged as a promising visual solution within the field of microneurosurgery. However, manual repositioning poses a challenge causing interruptions that disrupt the surgical flow. Thus, the need for hands-free exoscope control arises. This paper introduces a position-based visual-serv
Lymphadenectomy generally accompanies various oncology surgeries to remove infected cancer cells. However, there are two limitations in robot-assisted lymphadenectomy: 1) lymph nodes are not visible during operation since they are hidden by the superficial fat layer; 2) intra-operative bleeding may…
This paper presents an Augmented Reality (AR)assisted robot learning framework for Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) tasks. The proposed framework exploits an external optical tracking system to collect human demonstration. Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) and Gaussian Mixture Regression (GMR) are utiliz…
In this paper, a position-based visual-servoing control approach is introduced for a robotic camera holder to improve ergonomics and reduce mental stress during brain surgery. The visual tracking system controls and moves the robotic camera holder by following a selected surgical instrument without…
Navigation inside luminal organs is an arduous task that requires non-intuitive coordination between the movement of the operator's hand and the information obtained from the endoscopic video. The development of tools to automate certain tasks could alleviate the physical and mental load of doctors…
3-D pose estimation of instruments is a crucial step towards automatic scene understanding in robotic minimally invasive surgery. Although robotic systems can potentially directly provide joint values, this information is not commonly exploited inside the operating room, due to its possible unreliab
In this paper, a bilateral teleoperation control of a serial robot manipulator, which guarantees a Remote Center of Motion (RCM) constraint in its kinematic level, is developed. A two-layered approach based on the energy tank model is proposed to achieve haptic feedback on the end effector with a pe…
For bilateral teleoperation, the haptic feedback demands the availability of accurate force information transmitted from the remote site. Nevertheless, due to the limitation of the size, the force sensor is usually attached outside of the patient's abdominal cavity for the surgical operation. Hence,
For the time varying optimization problem, the tracking error cannot converge to zero at the finite time because of the optimal solution changing over time. This paper proposes a novel varying parameter recurrent neural network (VPRNN) based hierarchical optimization of a 7-DoF surgical manipulator…
In this paper, an improved motion planning scheme is proposed for surgical robot control with multiple active constraints, including joint constraints, joint velocity constraints and remote center of motion constraints. It introduces an improved recurrent neural network (RNN) to optimize the online…
In this paper, an Internet of Things-based human-robot collaborative control scheme is developed in Robot-assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery scenario. A hierarchical operational space formulation is designed to exploit the redundancies of the 7-DoFs redundant manipulator to handle multiple operatio…
The complexity of surgical operation can be released significantly if surgical robots can learn the manipulation skills by imitation from complex tasks demonstrations such as puncture, suturing, and knotting, etc.. This paper proposes a reinforcement learning algorithm based manipulation skill trans…
An improved human-robot collaborative control scheme is proposed in a teleoperated minimally invasive surgery scenario, based on a hierarchical operational space formulation of a seven-degree-of-freedom redundant robot. Redundancy is exploited to guarantee a remote center of motion (RCM) constraint
This paper proposes a manipulability optimization control of a 7-DoF robot manipulator for Robot-Assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery (RAMIS), which at the same time guarantees a Remote Center of Motion (RCM). The first degree of redundancy of the manipulator is used to achieve an RCM constraint, the…
Hands-on training is an indispensable part of surgical practice. As the tools used in the operating room become more intricate, the demand for efficient training methods increases. This work proposes a robotic assistance-as-needed method for training with surgical teleoperated robots. The method ada…
In this paper, a teleoperation control of a 7-DoF robot manipulator for Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS), which guarantees a safety-enhanced compliant behavior in the null space, is described. The redundancy of the manipulator is exploited to provide a flexible workspace for nurses or other staff (a…
Teleoperated robotic surgery allows filtering and scaling the hand motion to achieve high precision during the surgical interventions. Teleoperation represents a very complex sensory-motor task, mainly due to the kinematic and kinetic redundancies that characterize the human motor control. It requir
Haptically enabled hands-on or tele-operated surgical robotic systems provide a unique opportunity to integrate pre- and intra-operative information into physical actions through active constraints (also known as virtual fixtures). In many surgical procedures, including cardiac interventions, where…