DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF A SOFT PARALLEL ROBOT FOR TRANSCATHETER INTERVENTIONS

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ABSTRACT The overall objective of this proposal is to develop a six degrees of freedom (DOF) transcatheter soft parallel robot for cardiac intervention. Cardiac disease contributes to death of about 655,000 Americans each year. Minimally invasive robot-assisted (MIRA) procedures can revolutionize the treatment of cardiac disease. As compared to open heart surgery, MIRA procedures can dramatically minimize the recovery time, risk of infection, and average length of stay in hospital. Moreover, open heart surgery is a high-risk option for many elderly patients and people with diabetes. Robotic catheter technology has the potential to be applied for several transcatheter interventions such as intracardiac echocardiography (ICE), atrial fibrillation ablation, and repair of mitral valve prolapse. However, achieving these goals requires advancements in both imaging technology and robotic catheter systems. To develop this novel transcatheter robot we propose the following specific aims: Aim 1: Design and fabrication of a six DOF reconfigurable soft parallel robot to fit inside the existing catheters. The soft parallel robot is inspired from the structure of a three Universal-Spherical-Revolute (3USR) parallel robot. The 3USR parallel robot has six DOF and can be used for precision surgery procedures. However, this mechanism has a rigid structure and cannot be squeezed to be fitted inside a catheter and delivered inside the heart. To solve this issue, the rigid structure of the 3USR robot will be transformed into a soft and reconfigurable structure that can be fitted inside a catheter using the soft robotics technology. Aim 2: Development of an intuitive mechanism for position control of the robot. The manual joint space control knobs in the existing character systems are not intuitive and require extensive training for the surgeons to understand the required knob adjustments to navigate the catheter tip. To address this issue, we develop a master/slave system using a twin Stewart mechanism as a special joystick with 6 DOF. This is advantageous because the robot’s motion would be very intuitive, and the surgeon can control the robot end- effector just by one hand. Consequently, as the surgeon moves or rotates the joystick in any given position or orientation the robot follows that accordingly. While the existing steerable catheter technology is a made of a single tube, our proposed innovative design has a new geometry of a soft parallel robot, which can address the shortcoming of the existing technology. Upon successful completion of this project, the heart surgeons will have access to a novel efficient device to plan and study new procedures for transcatheter heart surgery. Heart failure is a chronic disease, causing disruption to the lives of sufferers and their families. Developing this new device can reduce the impact of heart failure on the lives of the patient and those around them, and it helps to lengthen life and promote a healthy society.