Visual/Inertial Detection of Trocar and Remote Centre of Motion in Vitreoretinal Surgery

这个博士项目涉及提高锁孔显微手术的安全性。锁孔显微手术需要严格的精度要求，在许多情况下，需要灵巧，这是人类能力的极限。一个这样的例子是玻璃体视网膜手术，其中必须操纵人类头发数量级的极小结构。即将到来的玻璃体视网膜手术干预将需要甚至低于该精度的精度，使得再生治疗可以被递送到特定的视网膜层，其具有大约10- 20 μ m的厚度。在玻璃体视网膜手术中，临床医生操纵通过用作支点的眼睛上的套管针/孔插入的仪器。因此，应当在该支点处形成远程运动中心，否则当工具拉动组织而不是枢转时存在创伤的风险。例如，存在眼睛组织被拉开的危险，从而导致例如散光或透镜移位。当手动执行此类手术时，临床医生使用触觉反馈以便理解施加了过大的力。随着玻璃体视网膜手术慢慢考虑使用机器人技术，重要的是要开发机制，以了解支点和远程运动中心是否相同。这方面的知识提高了安全性，但也允许双手操纵悬挂的器官，如眼睛。虽然有研究开发力传感器，了解施加的力量，我们有兴趣开发一个视觉/惯性的方法来解决这个问题。这将需要最低限度的定制现有的仪器，因此使他们的使用从即将到来的机器人assistant.Specifically，在这个博士项目的关键问题是：1）现有的玻璃体视网膜手术仪器，我们可以改造在一个可接受的方式与微型摄像头和惯性传感器，以支持这种方法的发展？2)同步定位和标测（SLAM）能否与微型摄像机和惯性测量结合使用，以定位穿刺器并计算远程运动中心？3)是否可以向机器人助手提供有关远程运动中心和穿刺器的信息以提高安全性？

This PhD project pertains to improving safety in keyhole micro-surgery. Keyhole micro-surgery takes place under strict precision requirements, and, in many cases, requires dexterity that is at the limits of human capabilities. One such example is vitreoretinal surgery, where extremely small structures on the order of the human hair must be manipulated. Upcoming vitreoretinal surgical interventions would require precision even below that, so that regenerative therapies can be delivered to specific retinal layers, which have a thickness on the order of 10-20um.In vitreoretinal surgery, the clinician manipulates an instrument inserted through a trocar/hole on the eye that acts as the fulcrum point. Therefore, a remote centre of motion should be formed at this fulcrum point, as otherwise there is the risk of trauma as the tool pulls on the tissue rather than pivoting. For example, there is the danger that the eye's tissue will be pulled apart, causing, for example, astigmatism or lens displacement. When such surgeries are manually performed, the clinician uses haptic feedback in order to understand that excessive forces are applied. As vitreoretinal surgery slowly considers the use of robotics, it is important to develop mechanisms to understand whether the fulcrum point and remote centre of motion are identical. Knowledge of this improves safety but also allows the bimanual manipulation of suspended organs such as the eye. While there is research on developing force sensors that understand the amount of applied force, we are interested in developing a visual/inertial approach to tackle this problem. This would require the minimum customisation of existing instruments, therefore enabling their use from upcoming robotic assistants.Specifically, the key questions in this PhD project are:1) Can existing vitreoretinal surgical instruments we retrofitted in an acceptable fashion with miniature cameras and inertial sensors to support the development of such an approach?2) Can Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) be used in conjunction with miniature cameras and inertial measurements to localise the trocar and calculate the remote centre of motion?3) Can the information about the remote centre of motion and trocar be provided to a robotic assistant to improve safety?