A Master-Follower Teleoperation System for Robotic Catheterization: Design, Characterization, and Tracking Control

TL;DR

This paper introduces a three-degree-of-freedom master-follower teleoperation system for robotic catheterization, emphasizing design, force interaction, and path tracking accuracy to improve minimally invasive surgical procedures.

Contribution

It presents a novel teleoperation system with a grip mechanism and evaluates its path tracking performance for robotic catheterization.

Findings

Path tracking errors range from 0.64 cm to 1.92 cm.

Open-loop control meets design targets, but closed-loop control is needed for better accuracy.

System effectively simulates manual intervention in minimally invasive surgery.

Abstract

Minimally invasive robotic surgery has gained significant attention over the past two decades. Telerobotic systems, combined with robot-mediated minimally invasive techniques, have enabled surgeons and clinicians to mitigate radiation exposure for medical staff and extend medical services to remote and hard-to-reach areas. To enhance these services, teleoperated robotic surgery systems incorporating master and follower devices should offer transparency, enabling surgeons and clinicians to remotely experience a force interaction similar to the one the follower device experiences with patients' bodies. This paper presents the design and development of a three-degree-of-freedom master-follower teleoperated system for robotic catheterization. To resemble manual intervention by clinicians, the follower device features a grip-insert-release mechanism to eliminate catheter buckling and torsion during operation. The bidirectionally navigable ablation catheter is statically characterized for force-interactive medical interventions. The system's performance is evaluated through approaching and open-loop path tracking over typical circular, infinity-like, and spiral paths. Path tracking errors are presented as mean Euclidean error (MEE) and mean absolute error (MAE). The MEE ranges from 0.64 cm (infinity-like path) to 1.53 cm (spiral path). The MAE also ranges from 0.81 cm (infinity-like path) to 1.92 cm (spiral path). The results indicate that while the system's precision and accuracy with an open-loop controller meet the design targets, closed-loop controllers are necessary to address the catheter's hysteresis and dead zone, and system nonlinearities.