Six smart guidelines for high-tech manufacture on low-tech 3D printers: the case of the 3Flex

While articulated surgical instruments have enabled the proliferation of minimally invasive interventions, procedures such as laparo-endoscopic single-site surgery are waning in popularity. One potential reason for this decline is a lack of sufficiently dexterous instruments. Although multi-steerable instruments exist, these are often complex...

Shape Sensing of Flexible Robots Based on Deep Learning

In this article, a deep learning method for the shape sensing of continuum robots based on multicore fiber bragg grating (FBG) fiber is introduced. The proposed method, based on an artificial neural network (ANN), differs from traditional approaches, where accurate shape reconstruction requires a tedious characterization of many...

Deep-learning-based Position Control of a Robotic Catheter under Environmental Contact

Precise control of robotic catheters remains challenging in interventions. Inherent non-linearities such as hysteresis and external disturbances such as blood flow or contact with the vessel walls have a large impact on the reachable positioning precision. As inaccurate positioning of the catheter tip could lead to tissue damage, controllers...

Deep-Learning-Based Compliant Motion Control of a Pneumatically-Driven Robotic Catheter

In cardiovascular interventions, when steering catheters and especially robotic catheters, great care should be paid to prevent applying too large forces on the vessel walls as this could dislodge calcifications, induce scars or even cause perforation. To address this challenge, this paper presents a novel compliant motion control algorithm...

Hysteresis Modeling of Robotic Catheters based on Long Short-Term Memory Network for Improved Environment Reconstruction

Catheters are increasingly being used to tackle problems in the cardiovascular system. However, positioning precision of the catheter tip is negatively affected by hysteresis. To ensure tissue damage due to imprecise positioning is avoided, hysteresis is to be understood and compensated for. This work investigates the feasibility to model...