Periodic Reporting for period 4 - NoLiMiTs (Novel Lifesaving Magnetic Tentacles)
Reporting period: 2023-11-01 to 2024-11-30
The aim of this project is to characterize fundamental principles at the intersection of robotics, magnetics, manufacturing, and medicine, which will enable intelligent tentacle-like robots to augment the capabilities of surgeons in reaching deep into the human anatomy through complex winding pathways and treat inoperable diseases.
Magnetic tentacle robots, proposed here for the first time, have the potential to be thin, extremely soft and scalable, and to conform to curvilinear trajectories by leveraging magnetic control over their entire length. The surgeon needing to access difficult to reach targets such as peripheral nodules in the lungs, small diseased blood vessels and regions deep inside the brain, will be able to design personalised tentacles and fabricate them on demand.
My world-leading research team in surgical robotics–being further consolidated by this grant–is defining and exploring new robotic architectures, as well as the design and fabrication processes integral to this novel concept. Proprioceptive sensing, combined with mathematical models, is enabling intelligent robotic control. Robotic assistance being explored is context dependent, ranging from joystick-based operation to autonomous control along pre-planned trajectories. An integrated design environment will help systematise and streamline implementation.
This interdisciplinary research is strengthening Europe’s position in medical robotics and improve public health by reducing patient recovery times, complication rates, and treatment costs; and ultimately saving the lives of patients suffering diseases that are inoperable—and often terminal—today.
Magnetic tentacle robots, proposed here for the first time, have the potential to be thin, extremely soft and scalable, and to conform to curvilinear trajectories by leveraging magnetic control over their entire length. The surgeon needing to access difficult to reach targets such as peripheral nodules in the lungs, small diseased blood vessels and regions deep inside the brain, will be able to design personalised tentacles and fabricate them on demand.
My world-leading research team in surgical robotics–being further consolidated by this grant–is defining and exploring new robotic architectures, as well as the design and fabrication processes integral to this novel concept. Proprioceptive sensing, combined with mathematical models, is enabling intelligent robotic control. Robotic assistance being explored is context dependent, ranging from joystick-based operation to autonomous control along pre-planned trajectories. An integrated design environment will help systematise and streamline implementation.
This interdisciplinary research is strengthening Europe’s position in medical robotics and improve public health by reducing patient recovery times, complication rates, and treatment costs; and ultimately saving the lives of patients suffering diseases that are inoperable—and often terminal—today.
The main achievements in this period where related to the basic science around magnetic continuum robots, or magnetic tentacles.
We started with a thorough review of the state of the art in continuum robots for surgical applications, highlighting the opportunities and the challenges for magnetic manipulation of soft continuum robots.
A first question we were able to answer was "how to magnetise the tentacle to get a desired shape?" This was achieved by training a neural network with finite element modelling data. Given a desired shape that the tentacle should have under an external homogenous field, the neural network was used to compute the required tentacle magnetization.
A second scientific question we addressed was "How to generate the external controlling field to manipulate magnetic tentacles?". In this case we proposed, for the first time, the use of two independent robotically-actuated permanent magnets and we demonstrated that they can control up to eight degrees of freedom within a confined space.
A third scientific question that we addressed was "How to implement follow-the-leader motion during insertion of a magnetic tentacle?". Our approach demonstrated the feasibility of obtaining follow-the-leader-motion and avoid sensitive obstacles.
In performing this research, we also realised that soft continuum magnetic robots are subject to undesired twisting along their main axis during actuation. To cope with this unexpected effect, we investigated the use of fibre reinforcement.
In parallel, we conducted a material characterization study investigating different formulations suitable for the manufacturing of soft magnetic continuum robots.
Beyond the work along the main objectives of investigating lifesaving magnetic tentacles, we were able to explore intelligent magnetic control of soft continuum robots by applying for the first time sensitivity ellipsoids, autonomous navigation based on lumen detection, intelligent magnetic control to an intracorporeal ultrasound probe, and evaluating how intelligent magnetic control can reduce the learning curve in robotic endoscopy. Beyond magnetic manipulation, we contributed to the field of control of soft continuum robots by proposing parallel helix actuator and origami based designs for soft actuators and by investigating advanced control techniques for tip-follower soft continuum robots.
In the broader field of surgical robotics, my team demonstrated for the first time the feasibility of autonomous tissue retraction. We also proposed an extensive critical review of autonomy in the field of surgical robotics and discussed how robotics can contribute to the field of flexible endoscopy at the time of a pandemic.
We started with a thorough review of the state of the art in continuum robots for surgical applications, highlighting the opportunities and the challenges for magnetic manipulation of soft continuum robots.
A first question we were able to answer was "how to magnetise the tentacle to get a desired shape?" This was achieved by training a neural network with finite element modelling data. Given a desired shape that the tentacle should have under an external homogenous field, the neural network was used to compute the required tentacle magnetization.
A second scientific question we addressed was "How to generate the external controlling field to manipulate magnetic tentacles?". In this case we proposed, for the first time, the use of two independent robotically-actuated permanent magnets and we demonstrated that they can control up to eight degrees of freedom within a confined space.
A third scientific question that we addressed was "How to implement follow-the-leader motion during insertion of a magnetic tentacle?". Our approach demonstrated the feasibility of obtaining follow-the-leader-motion and avoid sensitive obstacles.
In performing this research, we also realised that soft continuum magnetic robots are subject to undesired twisting along their main axis during actuation. To cope with this unexpected effect, we investigated the use of fibre reinforcement.
In parallel, we conducted a material characterization study investigating different formulations suitable for the manufacturing of soft magnetic continuum robots.
Beyond the work along the main objectives of investigating lifesaving magnetic tentacles, we were able to explore intelligent magnetic control of soft continuum robots by applying for the first time sensitivity ellipsoids, autonomous navigation based on lumen detection, intelligent magnetic control to an intracorporeal ultrasound probe, and evaluating how intelligent magnetic control can reduce the learning curve in robotic endoscopy. Beyond magnetic manipulation, we contributed to the field of control of soft continuum robots by proposing parallel helix actuator and origami based designs for soft actuators and by investigating advanced control techniques for tip-follower soft continuum robots.
In the broader field of surgical robotics, my team demonstrated for the first time the feasibility of autonomous tissue retraction. We also proposed an extensive critical review of autonomy in the field of surgical robotics and discussed how robotics can contribute to the field of flexible endoscopy at the time of a pandemic.
The implementation of the project is already resulting in significant breakthroughs beyond state-of-art research in continuum robot architectures, general modelling frameworks, proprioceptive sensing, intelligent human/robot interaction, advanced design support, and efficient manufacturing processes. In medical robotics, my research will enable new diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in the lungs, the cardiovascular system, and the brain. Beyond these three surgical scenarios, magnetic tentacles have the potential to revolutionize any clinical field where targets must be approached via tortuous passages (e.g. gastroenterology, gynaecology, urology, and otolaryngology). This will step change Europe’s position at the forefront of medical robotic research.
Expected results will be new robotic architectures and models; intelligence and control algorithms for magnetic tentacles; novel techniques for rapid design, simulation, and synthesis of magnetic tentacles; and multi-scale experimental evaluation of magnetic tentacles, embracing different scenarios where control over the entire body of the robot is crucial: lung biopsy, cardiovascular interventions, and neurosurgery.
Expected results will be new robotic architectures and models; intelligence and control algorithms for magnetic tentacles; novel techniques for rapid design, simulation, and synthesis of magnetic tentacles; and multi-scale experimental evaluation of magnetic tentacles, embracing different scenarios where control over the entire body of the robot is crucial: lung biopsy, cardiovascular interventions, and neurosurgery.