Novel Design of Mechanically Etched Concentric Tube Robot with Advanced Stability and Workspace

具有先进稳定性和工作空间的机械蚀刻同心管机器人的新颖设计

• 批准号: RGPIN-2016-05581
• 负责人: Drake, James
• 金额: $ 2.11万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=649576
• 关键词: Novel; Design; Mechanically; Etched; Concentric

Surgical robotics have provided surgeons with additional dexterity, precision and control to perform procedures more accurately and efficiently. However, the smallest commercial surgical robots range between 5mm and 8mm where they are too large for procedures in neurosurgery and trans-oral repairs through a single incision or burr hole. Industry and research groups have attempted to build smaller diameter cable driven discrete jointed systems but there are fundamental challenges in the mechanisms and materials which are limiting factors. A novel approach is use a "continuum" robotic manipulator where the manipulator is a continuous material that can be actuated for tip control. For millimetre-sized tools, we have proposed an approach to use Nickel Titanium (Nitinol) shape memory alloys that are thermally shape set where they are assembled in a concentric tube robot (CTR). By rotating and translating each tube, one is able to control the tip in Cartesian space. CTRs provide sufficient dexterity and stiffness for surgical tasks but there are limitations in their workspace due to "torsional wind-up". The "torsional wind-up" is caused by friction between the inner and outer tubes where the distal tip rotation may not match the proximal tip input. As this "wind-up" increases, it causes a point of instability and leads to unwanted snapping motion. To overcome the torsional instability, our research will study and optimize techniques to mechanically etch various patterns on Nitinol tubes to increase the linear response of the torsion of Nitinol tubes. Preliminary results have shown the simple etching patterns can increase the linearity and remove the "snapping" motion. There are 3 main points to the hypothesis: 1. Etching will create cellular tubes with increased torsional stability, 2. Optimized tubes will have reduced wind-up at lengths and curvatures for surgical tool and 3. Etched tubes can be implemented for a CTR to perform neurosurgery and trans-oral procedures. For this work, this project will involve 2 PhD level graduate students, clinical fellows and a research engineer who will be trained to be experts in the area of continuum manipulators, mechanical optimization and surgical tool development. This research will be conducted at the Centre for Image Guided Innovation and Therapeutic Intervention (CIGITI) at the Hospital for Sick Children. CIGITI is leading image guided research centre where its staff and students have received numerous international, national and provincial awards in the area of surgical robotics research.**

手术机器人为外科医生提供了额外的灵活性、精确性和控制力，以更准确、更高效地执行手术。然而，最小的商用手术机器人的尺寸在 5 毫米到 8 毫米之间，对于通过单个切口或钻孔进行神经外科手术和经口腔修复手术来说，它们太大了。行业和研究小组试图构建更小直径的电缆驱动离散关节系统，但机制和材料方面存在根本性挑战，这些都是限制因素。一种新颖的方法是使用“连续体”机器人操纵器，其中操纵器是连续材料，可以被驱动以进行尖端控制。对于毫米尺寸的工具，我们提出了一种使用镍钛（镍钛诺）形状记忆合金的方法，这些合金在同心管机器人（CTR）中组装时进行热定形。通过旋转和平移每个管，人们能够在笛卡尔空间中控制尖端。 CTR 为手术任务提供了足够的灵活性和刚度，但由于“扭转缠绕”，其工作空间受到限制。 “扭转缠绕”是由内管和外管之间的摩擦引起的，其中远端尖端旋转可能与近端尖端输入不匹配。随着这种“缠绕”的增加，它会导致不稳定点并导致不必要的突然运动。为了克服扭转不稳定性，我们的研究将研究和优化在镍钛诺管上机械蚀刻各种图案的技术，以增加镍钛诺管扭转的线性响应。初步结果表明，简单的蚀刻图案可以增加线性度并消除“折断”运动。该假设有 3 个要点： 1. 蚀刻将创建具有更高扭转稳定性的蜂窝管，2. 优化的管将减少手术工具的长度和曲率的缠绕，3. 蚀刻管可用于 CTR进行神经外科手术和经口腔手术。对于这项工作，该项目将涉及 2 名博士级研究生、临床研究员和一名研究工程师，他们将接受培训成为连续机械手、机械优化和手术工具开发领域的专家。这项研究将在病童医院的图像引导创新和治疗干预中心 (CIGITI) 进行。 CIGITI 是领先的图像引导研究中心，其员工和学生在手术机器人研究领域获得了众多国际、国家和省级奖项。**