Sensory feedback exploitation for robot-assisted exploration of the spinal cord

The biomedical application this paper refers to is the neuroendoscopy of the sub-arachnoid spinal space. Such a kind of endoscopy is strongly challenging due to the tiny space to be explored and to the delicate anatomical structures which lie into it. In order to enhance the degree of safety of the endoscopic intervention, a robotic system for neuroendoscopy has been developed, so as to obtain a robot-assisted exploration which aims to lower the risks for the patient and to case the catheter maneuvering task. This paper explains how robot sensory feedbacks can be exploited to provide the surgeon with useful information for the navigation and to implement automatic control strategies. It is described how sensory feedbacks processing can improve the safety of the operation by implementing a human-robot cooperation for the understanding of the anatomical environment and the monitoring of physiological parameters. The focus of the paper is on vision and pressure sensory feedbacks. Experimental results prove the reliability and the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms and their suitability to be employed in real time operation.