Sensing and mechatronic systems for minimally invasive surgery and therapy

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The proposed research program focuses on sensing and mechatronic systems that are suitable for surgical robots, medical devices and surgical training systems, with a particular focus on minimally invasive procedures. Minimally invasive procedures are performed though small incisions, typically about 10 mm across. While benefical to patients, the restricted access introduces many challenges for clinicians. One of the major problems is the inability to manipulate and feel internal structures in the same manner as would be possible in a comparable open procedure. The goal of this work is to improve the performance, feel, and safety of minimally invasive technologies with an eye towards simplicity and economy. This is achieved through the development of specialized mechatronic tools and sensing systems. The near term objectives of this research address three different areas: 1. development and characterization of a sterilizable tactile sensor that can accurately measure underlying tissue stiffness; 2. design and control of a dexterous minimally invasive manipulator, suitable for next-generation surgical and therapeutic approaches such as natural orifice and single port access procedures; and 3. development of techniques to track surgical or therapeutic instrument motion using endoscopic images and inertial sensors. A number of challenges are common to these objectives including the small size required for minimally invasive assess, the need to operate in warm and wet environments, preventing the collection or trapping of biomatter, and withstanding the extreme temperatures, humidity and pressures of sterilization procedures. The results of the proposed research are expected to be of particular significance to the Canadian health care and medical device industries. The improved sensing and manipulation capabilities afforded by this research will benefit practitioners of cardiac, thoracic, abdominal, neurological, orthopaedic and fetal surgical and therapeutic procedures. The developments outlined above may be applied to devices and systems for training, diagnosis, therapy and surgery.