3-d ultrasound guidance of surgical robotics: Autonomous guidance and catheter transducers

In 2006 our laboratory showed that a matrix array endoscope capable of real-time 3D (RT3D) scanning could be used to guide a surgical robot with an rms error of less than 2mm. In this study, we examine two new topics in robotic guidance: (1) the feasibility of using a real-time 3D (RT3D) ultrasound scanner with a transthoracic array to guide an autonomous surgical robot by using a fiducial transducer mark and thresholding to achieve image segmentation. (2) using intra-cardiac and intravascular 3D catheters with the 3D scanner measurement package. We tested the accuracy of using the scanner to automatically direct a robot arm which touched two needle tips together within a water tank and a vascular graft and performed simulated needle biopsies of a cyst-like lesion in a tissue phantom.