Automated design of a scalable, additively manufactured robot system for microinvasive interventions in visceral medicine

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This sub-project is about the automated construction of a manipulator (SPOT, Single-Port Overtube system) fabricated with additive manufacturing technologies, for minimally invasive interventions in gastroenterology and visceral medicine. The SPOT was being developed in the successfully concluded previous project DFG FOR 1321 and repeatedly tested in a porcine model. The SPOT is designed as a casing for standard endoscopes, which allows the treating physician to control two flexible endoscopic standard instruments independently from each other within the patients body and to orient them towards an object from different directions. The aim of this project is to adapt a SPOT via automated, task-specific construction to a planned intervention, the patients anatomy as well as the available instruments and if needed sensors for image processing (TP 5) or the connection to a medical navigation system (TP 2). For this purpose we want to develop a knowledge-based system for planning interventions, a database with needed tools and a toolbox for automated design. The knowledge-based system (together with TP 4) is supposed to plan SPOT-interventions using the patients anatomical image data, diagnosis and medical history. From this information we deduce the technical specifications for the design of a SPOT in this sub-project (max. diameter, flexibility or workspace). Therefor we set up a database in which all instruments measurements and features are stored, that are relevant for the SPOTs design. For different interventions, anatomies and instruments it shall be analyzed scientifically how the requirements for a SPOT can be deduced reliably and with which scaling a SPOT can be fabricated using the additive manufacturing technology SLS (selective laser sintering) in a way, that the required functionality needed for performing a minimally invasive intervention can be provided. For the automated design of a SPOT the system is firstly divided into static and functional elements and are analyzed systematically regarding limits of producibility via SLS using the biocompatible polyamide PA 2200 and the properties that can be achieved. With these findings, the construction elements are implemented as construction algorithms with which the SPOT is rebuild in a parametrized manner. As a basis we use construction algorithms from own preliminary work that have been implemented in Matlab (VLFL-Lib, ca. 900 functions). In doing so the construction elements properties can be adapted specifically and suitably designed for production. Finally it should be possible to scale a SPOT, adapt its characteristics and automatically design it for the manufacturing using SLS of biocompatible PA 2200.