Design and implementation of a control architecture for robot‐assisted orthopaedic surgery

摘要

BACKGROUND: Recent research in orthopaedic surgery indicates that computer-assisted robotic systems improve the precision and accuracy of the surgery, which in turn leads to better long-term outcomes. Increasing demand for minimally invasive bone-cutting operations has been encouraging surgical robot developments in orthopaedics. An orthopaedic robotic system and an intelligent control architecture that will be used in bone-cutting operations were developed. METHODS: An orthopaedic surgical robotic system called OrthoRoby was developed. A computed-torque low-level control method was used for OrthoRoby to track a desired bone-cutting trajectory. Kinematic and dynamic analysis of OrthoRoby was derived for control purposes. An intelligent control architecture was designed that systematically combines a high-level controller with a computed-torque low-level controller to complete bone-cutting operations in a desired and safe manner. RESULTS: A series of experimental tests were conducted on a bone model to evaluate the performance of the intelligent control architecture. Experimental results demonstrated that the intelligent control architecture could monitor the progress and the safety of the cutting operation, such that necessary dynamic modifications could be made to complete the bone-cutting operation in a safe manner. CONCLUSIONS: The experiments performed on the OrthoRoby robotic system and its intelligent control architecture yielded promising results. Although minor problems still exist at the prototype stage, minor modifications of the OrthoRoby and intelligent control architecture would be a significant step towards the use of the OrthoRoby and its intelligent control architecture in a surgical operation.