Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics Seminar: Axel Krieger

Description

Axel Krieger, an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland, will be giving a talk entitled "Smart and Autonomous Robots for Surgery." This talk is sponsored by the Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics.

Abstract:

Robotic assisted surgery (RAS) systems, such as the da Vinci (Intuitive Surgical), incorporate highly dexterous tools, hand tremor filtering, and motion scaling to enable a minimally invasive surgery approach, reducing collateral damage and patient recovery times. However, current state-of-the-art tele-robotic surgery requires a surgeon operating every motion of the robot, resulting in long procedure times and inconsistent results. The advantages of autonomous robotic functionality have been demonstrated in applications outside of medicine, ranging from manufacturing to self-driving cars. A limited form of autonomous RAS with pre-planned functionality was introduced in bony orthopedic procedures, radiotherapy, and cochlear implants. Efforts in automating deformable and unstructured soft tissue surgeries have been limited so far to elemental tasks such as knot tying, needle insertion, and executing predefined motions.