# Soft-NeuroAdapt: A 3-DOF Neuro-Adaptive Patient Pose Correction System For Frameless and Maskless Cancer Radiotherapy

## TL;DR

This paper presents Soft-NeuroAdapt, a neuro-adaptive soft-robot system that improves patient positioning accuracy in cancer radiotherapy by compensating for head deviations using a neural network-based controller.

## Contribution

It introduces a novel 3-DOF soft-robot with an adaptive neuro-controller for real-time correction of patient head deviations during radiotherapy.

## Key findings

- Effective correction of intrafractional deviations demonstrated
- Neural network controller adapts to patient movement
- Ensures patient safety and comfort during treatment

## Abstract

Precise patient positioning is fundamental to successful removal of malignant tumors during treatment of head and neck cancers. Errors in patient positioning have been known to damage critical organs and cause complications. To better address issues of patient positioning and motion, we introduce a 3-DOF neuro-adaptive soft-robot, called Soft-NeuroAdapt to correct deviations along 3 axes. The robot consists of inflatable air bladders that adaptively control head deviations from target while ensuring patient safety and comfort. The adaptive-neuro controller combines a state feedback component, a feedforward regulator, and a neural network that ensures correct adaptation. States are measured by a 3D vision system. We validate Soft-NeuroAdapt on a 3D printed head-and-neck dummy, and demonstrate that the controller provides adaptive actuation that compensates for intrafractional deviations in patient positioning.