Robotic touchless interaction in surgery

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Interventional radiologists are required to view and manipulate (zoom, scroll, pan, etc.) radiological images during operations. Currently, this must be done by either a) scrubbing out of a case to enter the control room or b) verbally directing a technologist to operate the workstation. These current methods cause two issues: 1) scrubbing in and out of the sterile field increases the risk of intra-operative infections, and 2) task delegation removes the radiologist's direct control of the images and negatively affects OR workflow. NZ Technologies Inc. (NZT) has been developing a novel medical device, called 'Touchless Interaction with Picture and Archiving Communication Systems (PACS) in Sterile Operations' (TIPSO). TIPSO employs real-time optical 3D sensing of the environment to enable radiologists to manipulate the images by using hand gestures and motions in a fully sterile manner - directly from the OR. An adaptive light projection module enables radiologists to intuitively interact with a 'virtual tactile' menu on the surgery bed. NZT proposes to mount TIPSO on the end-effector of a robotic manipulator -greatly increasing TIPSO's ability to provide a seamless human-machine interface in the sterile field. This Grant will investigate and simulate the application of a robotic manipulator to carry a TIPSO device - moving wherever a surgeon requires, blending in with the OR's workflow, and avoiding collisions with other OR equipment. The project will investigate simulation, control, and trajectory planning aspects of the robotic manipulator - for a completely touchless solution. Within a simulation environment, a smooth feedback control system, a collision-avoidance algorithm, and a unique visual servoing technique will be designed, developed, and verified. This research will enable NZT to buy an appropriate robotic arm and begin deployment in an OR environment. The technology developed, as the result of this project, will replace conventional methods for image viewing and manipulation during minimally invasive surgeries in the OR. This solution provides a simple, intuitive, and ergonomic interaction capability to the surgeon - removing sources of intra-operative infections and allowing shorter surgeries.