Design and construction of a wireless robot that simulates head movements in cone beam computed tomography imaging

TL;DR

This paper presents a wireless cable-driven robot designed to simulate head movements during CBCT imaging, enabling the study of motion artifacts and creation of reference datasets to improve image quality.

Contribution

It introduces a novel, controllable robotic system that mimics clinical head movements in CBCT scans, with high reproducibility and wireless operation for safer, more accurate artifact analysis.

Findings

Reproducibility of movements exceeds 95%

Wireless control via Wi-Fi ensures safety and convenience

Robot accurately simulates clinically relevant head motions

Abstract

One of the major challenges in the science of maxillofacial radiology imaging is the various artifacts created in images taken by cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) imaging systems. Among these artifacts, motion artifact, which is created by the patient, has adverse effects on image quality. In this paper, according to the conditions and limitations of the CBCT imaging room, the goal is the design and development of a cable-driven parallel robot to create repeatable movements of a dry skull inside a CBCT scanner for studying motion artifacts and building up reference datasets with motion artifacts. The proposed robot allows a dry skull to execute motions, which were selected on the basis of clinical evidence, with 3-degrees of freedom during imaging in synchronous manner with the radiation beam. The kinematic model of the robot is presented to investigate and describe the correlation between the amount of motion and the pulse width applied to DC motors. This robot can be controlled by the user through a smartphone or laptop wirelessly via a Wi-Fi connection. Using wireless communication protects the user from harmful radiation during robot driving and functioning. The results show that the designed robot has a reproducibility above 95% in performing various movements.