Compact Bone Surgery Robot with a High-Resolution and High-Rigidity Remote Center of Motion Mechanism

Seongbo Shim, Daekeun Ji, Seongpung Lee, Hyunseok Choi, Jaesung Hong

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: Two important and difficult tasks during a bone drilling procedure are guiding the orientation of the drilling axis toward the target and maintaining the orientation against the drilling force. To accomplish these tasks, a remote center of motion (RCM) mechanism is adopted to align the orientation of the drilling axis without changing the entry point. However, existing RCM mechanisms do not provide sufficient resolution and rigidity to address hard tissue cases. Methods: We propose a new type of RCM mechanism that uses two sets of linear actuators and a gearless-arc guide to have a high resolution and rigidity. In addition, we designed a single motor-based drilling mechanism based on rolling friction. To achieve automatic control of the guiding and drilling process, we incorporated a computer-tomography-based navigation system that was equipped with an optical tracking system. Results: The effectiveness of the integrated robotic system was demonstrated through a series of experiments and ex vivo drilling tests on swine femurs. The proposed robotic system withstood a maximum external force of 51 N to maintain the joint angle, and the average drilling error was less than 1.2 mm. Conclusion: This study confirms the feasibility of the proposed bone drilling robotic system with a high-resolution and high-rigidity RCM mechanism. Significance: This drilling system is the first successful trial based on an RCM mechanism and a single motor-based drilling mechanism, reducing the footprint and required motors with respect to previous bone surgical robots.

Original languageEnglish
Article number8949702
Pages (from-to)2497-2506
Number of pages10
JournalIEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering
Volume67
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 1964-2012 IEEE.

Keywords

  • Bone drilling robot
  • image guided navigation
  • remote center of motion mechanism
  • rolling friction

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