Micro-Robotics for Minimally-Invasive Neurosurgery

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Robotics has found a well accepted role in surgical procedures, particularly in laparoscopic procedures where arms can now be used with remote manipulation by a surgeon with direct visual feedback from the laparoscope to dissect, suture, tie, and perform complex procedures in the cardiac, thoracic, and abdominal spaces. Current robotic technology, however, is unsuitable for neurosurgical microsurgery, because of the large working space that is required for the robots, and the fact that the robots were not designed for the tasks that neurosurgeons normally need to do. This proposal aims to develop and utilize new robotic technologies to address these exciting opportunities. The Phase I will begin development of steerable micro-robots that could be accurately directed by the neurosurgeon to locations in the brain via a number of entry points without the large incision, removal of bone, and tissue retraction associated with open neurosurgical techniques. The clinical and engineering team will design, fabricate and test representative prototypes of the proposed micro-robotic concept. The prototypes will be steered through obstacle courses that are representative of actual neurosurgery. The testing will evaluate the feasibility of designing micro-robots that can make the necessary turns, circumvent obstacles, avoid locations designated as "off-limit," and withstand anticipated steady and transient loads. Moreover, since there is a tradeoff between strength/stability and miniaturization, the project will show how the optimum design point in this tradeoff space depends on the particulars of the task at hand. Finally, the Phase I will confirm that the many degrees of freedom of the micro-robot can be readily controlled with a total volume of actuation and wiring commensurate with the miniaturization demanded by neurosurgery. The Phase I activities will be limited to prototype development and testing in the laboratory, whereas the Phase II would move onto to cadaver and animal testing.