Robotically assisted injection of orthopedic cement: System design, control and modeling

Abstract

This study deals with an original biomedical application requiring modeling and control. The general objective is to enable radiologists to inject orthopedic cement under fluoroscopic guidance while protecting themselves from X-rays and having a satisfactory control of the injection. The presented teleoperation system consists in a master and a slave device, designed to perform bilateral teleoperation. This system is controlled using a rate control strategy, so that the operator may manage to perform very slow injections with accuracy and safety. Experiments are performed, not only to confirm the adequacy of the system and the control of the task, but also to provide data in order to characterize the cement injection in realistic conditions. With the aim of controlling, later on, the bone cement viscosity, injection data are used to discuss cement model properties of a cement model.