Robotic Spine Surgery Alignment With Line Haptic Guidance
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Robotic manipulators in spinal surgery are underutilized during the drilling of pilot holes and insertion of pedicle screws, as they play little to no role in these critical steps.
Innovation Solution
A spinal surgery system incorporating a robotic arm with an end effector, a navigation system, and a control system that autonomously aligns the end effector to a desired trajectory, constrains movement within virtual boundaries, and enables precise drilling and screw insertion using line haptic objects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If the robotic manipulator is used only for positioning the tool guide, then the navigation system can accurately track the tool guide location, but the robotic manipulator remains underutilized during drilling and screw insertion
Solution Approach 1:
The robotic manipulator is designed to perform multiple functions: positioning the tool guide, autonomously drilling pilot holes, and inserting pedicle screws. This multi-functionality resolves the underutilization issue by enabling the same robotic system to execute the entire surgical workflow, thereby improving automation extent without proportionally increasing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The control system merges the navigation system's trajectory data with the robotic manipulator's control functions. By integrating these systems, the robotic manipulator can autonomously follow the desired trajectory for drilling and screw insertion, eliminating the need for separate manual operations and improving overall system utilization.
2Manufacturing precision
If the robotic manipulator autonomously drills pilot holes and inserts screws, then operational precision is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control system continuously receives feedback from the navigation system regarding the tool guide's position and orientation. This feedback loop enables the robotic manipulator to make real-time adjustments during drilling and screw insertion, ensuring high precision while managing complexity through intelligent control algorithms rather than mechanical complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces manual mechanical operations with automated robotic control. The robotic manipulator uses software-controlled movements and haptic feedback mechanisms rather than purely mechanical linkages, achieving high precision through computational control while reducing the need for complex mechanical structures.
3Reliability
If haptic feedback is implemented to constrain the end effector to the desired trajectory, then safety is improved by preventing deviation, but the ease of operation is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The haptic feedback provides constraint only when the end effector deviates from the desired trajectory, rather than continuously restricting all movements. This partial action approach maintains safety by preventing harmful deviations while allowing natural surgical manipulation within the safe envelope, thus preserving ease of operation where not constrained.
Solution Approach 2:
The haptic feedback system acts as an intermediary between the surgeon's manual control inputs and the actual tool movements. It provides gentle resistance or guidance forces that nudge the tool back toward the desired trajectory without completely restricting surgeon control, maintaining both safety and operational ease through this mediating feedback mechanism.
Data Source
AI summary
Spinal surgery systems and methods include a manipulator with a robotic arm and an end effector. A navigation system with a localizer tracks a patient and the manipulator. A control system registers, with the navigation system, a desired trajectory for a vertebra of the patient and detects that the end effector is within a predetermined distance to the desired trajectory. In response to the end effector being within the predetermined distance and detection of a user input, the control system autonomously moves the robotic arm to align the end effector to the desired trajectory. The end effector is constrained to the desired trajectory with a line haptic object and can exit the line haptic object in response to being moved along the line haptic object until the end effector reaches an exit point defined relative to the line haptic object.