Hyper-redundant Tracking Device for Arthroscopic Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Arthroscopic hip surgery faces challenges due to the complexity of navigating within the hip joint and accurately placing portal incisions without damaging critical neurovascular structures, and existing tracking systems suffer from occlusion, distortion, and limited range of motion issues.
Innovation Solution
A hyper-redundant tracking device with encoders is used to track surgical instruments, providing computer-generated images of real-time motion relative to patient anatomy, and a proximity warning system alerts surgeons to avoid critical structures, while also being applicable in industrial robot teaching and other applications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional optical or electromagnetic tracking systems are used, then the system is simpler, but occlusion and distortion occur limiting the range of motion
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces optical and electromagnetic tracking systems with a mechanical tracking system using a polylinkage mechanism with encoders. This mechanical system directly measures the position and orientation of surgical instruments through physical linkages, eliminating the occlusion and distortion problems inherent in optical/electromagnetic systems while providing a straightforward implementation.
Solution Approach 2:
The tracking system is divided into multiple rigid links connected by joints, with each link containing an encoder to measure its own orientation. This segmentation allows the system to track instruments through complex motions and occlusions by measuring the state of individual links rather than relying on global optical fields that can be blocked.
2Reliability
If hyper-redundant tracking device with encoders is used, then occlusion and distortion problems are eliminated, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The polylinkage tracking mechanism serves multiple functions simultaneously: it tracks the position of surgical instruments, determines their orientation, and provides real-time feedback for navigation. By combining these functions into a single mechanical system rather than using separate optical/electromagnetic systems, the patent achieves reliable tracking without proportionally increasing complexity.
3Ease of operation
If real-time tracking of surgical instruments is implemented, then navigation accuracy is improved, but measurement precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously measures the position and orientation of surgical instruments through the polylinkage mechanism and provides real-time feedback to the navigation system. This feedback loop allows the system to compensate for measurement variations and maintain high navigation accuracy without requiring extremely precise measurements at any single instant.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, apparatuses, and systems for computer-aided tracking, navigation, and motion tracking. In one embodiment, a system for determining a spatial position, including a tracking device and a processor. The tracking devices has a working end, a reference end, a plurality of links connecting the working end to the reference end, wherein each link has at least one degree of freedom relative to an adjacent link, and a plurality of sensors measuring the orientation of the links in a plurality of degrees of freedom, wherein X is a minimum number of degrees of freedom about which information is required to define the spatial position. The processor receives information from the sensors and determine the spatial position of the working end of the tracking device relative to the reference end of the tracking device based on information from the sensors measuring Y degrees of freedom, wherein Y is greater than X.