Passive Safety Enhancement in Surgical Robot Navigation

Abstract

Precise measurements of geometry should accompany robotic equipments in operating rooms if their advantages are further pursued. For deforming organs including a liver, intraoperative geometric measurements play an essential role in computer surgery in addition to pre-operative geometric information from CT, MRI and so on. Previously developed laser-pointing endoscope acquires and visualizes the shape of the area of interest in a flash of time. Using this intraoperative geometry, in this paper we develope a surgical navigator for laparoscopic procedure. This system has the function of intraoperative monitoring and safety management. The authors believe that the proposed function enhances robotically assisted operations not only in ordinary operational environments but also in tele-operative environments. Results of in-vivo experiments on a liver of pig verify the effectiveness of the proposed system. The intraoperative 3D model of liver and 3D geometric calculation in virtual abdominal space were useful to avoid unexpected collisions with the forceps of surgical robot.