Autonomous 3-D positioning of surgical instrument concerning compatibility with the eye surgical procedure

Abstract

Surgical treatment of the eye fundus involves the insertion of thin surgical tools into the eyeball, that have to interact with the micrometer-scale structures of the eye. In such small scale, manually handling the instruments is especially challenging, since involuntary hand tremors alone can have larger amplitudes than the structures being handled. In order to enhance the precision of surgeons in such delicate task, we designed a master-slave eye surgical robot to assist in vitreoretinal surgery, based on a 6-PUS parallel mechanism to provide high precision, while being compact as not to clutter the operating room. Experiments demonstrate that the developed robot in master-slave control provides higher accuracy compared to manual handling. In order to further enhance its usability, an autonomous 3-D surgical instrument positioning method based on visual servoing and contact detection was implemented. That method was evaluated in the automation of cannulation procedures in a manner that is compatible with clinical reality.