Four arms improve surgical robot
Researchers in Switzerland have developed the first system that uses four arms for a surgical robot by using foot controls
The roboticists at EPFL have combined multi-limb manipulation with advanced shared control augmentation and haptic foot controls for a more efficient laparoscopic key hole surgical robot.
Specialists have already been successfully trained on the system and clinical trials are ongoing in Geneva, saving time and potentially making surgical procedures safer as a result.
The development was a collaboration between the research group REHAssist and the Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory (LASA) to develop the additional five degrees of freedom through a haptic foot interface.
Each hand controls a manipulative instrument, while one foot controls an endoscope/camera, and another foot controls an actuated gripper. One key innovation of this system lies in the shared control between the surgeon and the robotic assistants. The control framework developed by the researchers ensures that the surgeon and robots can work collaboratively within a concurrent workspace while meeting the precision and safety demands of laparoscopic surgery.
“Actuators in the foot pedals give haptic feedback to the user, guiding the foot towards the target as if following an invisible field-of-forces, and also limit force and movement to ensure that erroneous feet movements do not endanger the patient,” said Mohamed Bouri, head of the REHAssist group. “Our system opens up new possibilities for surgeons to perform 4-handed laparoscopic procedures, allowing a single person to do a task that is usually performed by two, sometimes three people.”
Known as shared control, the robotics sometimes lead the surgeon’s control of the instrument as they predict where the surgeon wants to move. When tying a knot for example, the endoscope adjusts into the proper position and the gripper could move out of the way.
“Controlling four arms simultaneously, moreover with one’s feet, is far from routine and can be quite tiring. To reduce the complexity of the control, the robots actively assist the surgeon by coordinating their movements with the surgeon’s through active prediction of the surgeon’s intent and adaptive visual tracking of laparoscopic instruments with the camera. Additionally, assistance is offered for more accurate grasping of the tissues,” says Professor Aude Billard, head of LASA.
“By incorporating foot-controlled robotic assistants and shared control strategies, we reduce the mental and physical load on surgeons and we hypothesize to improve surgical outcomes,” said Bouri.
Enabling four-arm laparoscopic surgery by controlling two robotic assistants via haptic foot interfaces is at 10.1177/02783649231180366
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