Sensing and mechatronic systems for minimally invasive surgery and therapy

拟议的研究计划侧重于适用于手术机器人，医疗设备和手术培训系统的传感和机电一体化系统，特别关注微创手术。微创手术通过小切口进行，通常约10 mm宽。虽然对患者有利，但限制访问给临床医生带来了许多挑战。其中一个主要问题是无法以与可比开放手术相同的方式操纵和感觉内部结构。这项工作的目标是提高微创技术的性能、感觉和安全性，同时着眼于简单和经济。这是通过开发专门的机电工具和传感系统来实现的。本研究的近期目标涉及三个不同的领域：1。开发和表征可灭菌的触觉传感器，其可以准确地测量潜在的组织硬度; 2.设计和控制灵巧的微创机械手，适用于下一代手术和治疗方法，如自然腔道和单孔入路手术;以及3.开发使用内窥镜图像和惯性传感器跟踪手术或治疗器械运动的技术。对于这些目标来说，许多挑战是共同的，包括微创评估所需的小尺寸，需要在温暖和潮湿的环境中操作，防止收集或捕获生物物质，以及承受灭菌程序的极端温度，湿度和压力。预计拟议研究的结果将对加拿大医疗保健和医疗器械行业具有特别重要的意义。这项研究提供的改进的传感和操作能力将使心脏，胸部，腹部，神经，骨科和胎儿外科和治疗程序的从业者受益。以上概述的发展可以应用于用于训练、诊断、治疗和手术的设备和系统。

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.