Fuzzy Logic Navigation System for Autonomous Endovascular Operations

Abstract

Endovascular operations are not only critical for the life of the patients but also very challenging for the surgeons. Such operations, require extensive surgical training, operative accuracy, and they are time consuming. Vascular robotics is identified as a solution that may facilitate vascular operations. This paper frames itself in the field of invasive robotics used for endovascular operations and proposes a new system for robot navigation. In particular, a fuzzy logic system is proposed that implements endovascular autonomous navigation of a robot in a patient. The fuzzy navigation system is tested on 3-dimensional simulations of the human aorta. The testing case demonstrates the ability of the fuzzy navigation to be an autonomous - i.e. no human intervention is required for navigation-and completes the navigation in the aorta with accuracy and speed.