A Single Hydraulic Bellows-Based MRI-Safe Robotic Needle Driver Capable of Independent and Coupled Needle Translation and Rotation
Yufu Qiu, Haiyang Fang, Kwan Kit Lin, Shing Shin Cheng
Abstract
Despite decades of research in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-compatible robotic technologies, the existing MRI-safe needle drivers rarely feature simultaneously high compactness, large insertion force, and motion versatility, all of which are critical to facilitate clinical translation in intraoperative MRI-guided percutaneous procedures. The paper presents an MR-safe needle driver that for the first time offers all these desired qualities. It measures only 2.2 × 5.3 × 3.8 cm (length × width × height), facilitating its adoption in in-bore skull-mounted or body-mounted MRI-guided procedures. It is driven by a single hydraulic bellows-based actuator, which provides good water sealing, smooth motion, and high expansion ratio, and a pre-clamped gripper design that offers large insertion force (>10 N). A compact passive rotation mechanism, together with a motion decoupling and switching mechanism, was introduced, allowing the needle to move with three motion types: independent translation, translation with passive rotation, and independent rotation. The passive rotation motion reduces needle deformation and tissue resistance during insertion, while the combination of independent tran