Minimally Invasive Flexible Needle Manipulation Based on Finite Element Simulation and Cross Entropy Method

TL;DR

This paper introduces a real-time finite element simulation combined with the cross-entropy method and electromagnetic tracking to improve minimally invasive flexible needle manipulation, achieving high accuracy in tissue phantom experiments.

Contribution

It presents a novel integrated framework using finite element simulation, cross-entropy optimization, and EM tracking for precise flexible needle control.

Findings

Average targeting error of 0.16mm in tissue phantom experiments

Effective integration of EM tracking for feedback control

Enhanced tracking performance with the proposed methods

Abstract

We present a novel approach for minimally invasive flexible needle manipulations by pairing a real-time finite element simulator with the cross-entropy method. Additionally, we demonstrate how a kinematic-driven bang-bang controller can complement the control framework for better tracking performance. We show how electromagnetic (EM) tracking can be readily incorporated into the framework to provide controller feedback. Tissue phantom experiment with EM tracking shows the average targeting error is $0.16 \pm 0.29mm$.