A novel catheter interaction simulating method for virtual reality interventional training systems.

Endovascular robotic systems have been applied in robot-assisted interventional surgery to improve surgical safety and reduce radiation to surgeons. However, this surgery requires surgeons to be highly skilled at operating vascular interventional surgical robot. Virtual reality (VR) interventional training systems for robot-assisted interventional surgical training have many advantages over traditional training methods.

A Home-based Tele-rehabilitation System With Enhanced Therapist-patient Remote Interaction: A Feasibility Study.

As a promising alternative to hospital-based manual therapy, robot-assisted tele-rehabilitation therapy has shown significant benefits in reducing the therapist's workload and accelerating the patient's recovery process. However, existing telerobotic systems for rehabilitation face barriers to implementing appropriate therapy treatment due to the lack of effective therapist-patient interactive capabilities. In this paper, we develop a home-based tele-rehabilitation system that implements two alternative training methods, including a haptic-enabled guided training that allows the therapist to adjust the intensity of therapeutic movements provided by the rehabilitation device and a surface electromyography (sEMG)-based supervised training that explores remote assessment of the patient's kinesthetic awareness.

A Mirror Bilateral Neuro-Rehabilitation Robot System with the sEMG-Based Real-Time Patient Active Participant Assessment.

In this paper, a novel mirror visual feedback-based (MVF) bilateral neurorehabilitation system with surface electromyography (sEMG)-based patient active force assessment was proposed for upper limb motor recovery and improvement of limb inter-coordination. A mirror visual feedback-based human-robot interface was designed to facilitate the bilateral isometric force output training task. To achieve patient active participant assessment, an sEMG signals-based elbow joint isometric force estimation method was implemented into the proposed system for real-time affected side force assessment and participation evaluation.

A Home-Based Bilateral Rehabilitation System With sEMG-based Real-Time Variable Stiffness.

Bilateral rehabilitation allows patients with hemiparesis to exploit the cooperative capabilities of both arms to promote the recovery process. Although various approaches have been proposed to facilitate synchronized robot-assisted bilateral movements, few studies have focused on addressing the varying joint stiffness resulting from dynamic motions. This paper presents a novel bilateral rehabilitation system that implements a surface electromyography (sEMG)-based stiffness control to achieve real-time stiffness adjustment based on the user's dynamic motion.

Development of a powered variable-stiffness exoskeleton device for elbow rehabilitation.

Robot-assisted movement training by means of exoskeleton devices has been proven to be an effective method for post-stroke patients to recover their motor function. However, in order to be used in home-based rehabilitation, the kinematic structure of a wearable exoskeleton device should provide portability and make allowances for the natural joint range of motion for the user. Additionally, the actuated stiffness of the target joint is desired to be adjustable in accordance with the specific impairment level of the patient's upper limb.

Performance evaluation of a robot-assisted catheter operating system with haptic feedback.

In this paper, a novel robot-assisted catheter operating system (RCOS) has been proposed as a method to reduce physical stress and X-ray exposure time to physicians during endovascular procedures. The unique design of this system allows the physician to apply conventional bedside catheterization skills (advance, retreat and rotate) to an input catheter, which is placed at the master side to control another patient catheter placed at the slave side. For this purpose, a magnetorheological (MR) fluids-based master haptic interface has been developed to measure the axial and radial motions of an input catheter, as well as to provide the haptic feedback to the physician during the operation.

Design and performance evaluation of collision protection-based safety operation for a haptic robot-assisted catheter operating system.

The robot-assisted catheter system can increase operating distance thus preventing the exposure radiation of the surgeon to X-ray for endovascular catheterization. However, few designs have considered the collision protection between the catheter tip and the vessel wall. This paper presents a novel catheter operating system based on tissue protection to prevent vessel puncture caused by collision.

A virtual-reality simulator and force sensation combined catheter operation training system and its preliminary evaluation.

Background: Endovascular surgery benefits patients because of its superior short convalescence and lack of damage to healthy tissue. However, such advantages require the operator to be equipped with dexterous skills for catheter manipulation without resulting in collateral damage. To achieve this goal, a training system is in high demand.

Design and performance evaluation of a master controller for endovascular catheterization.

Purpose: It is difficult to manipulate a flexible catheter to target a position within a patient's complicated and delicate vessels. However, few researchers focused on the controller designs with much consideration of the natural catheter manipulation skills obtained from manual catheterization. Also, the existing catheter motion measurement methods probably lead to the difficulties in designing the force feedback device.

Design of a novel telerehabilitation system with a force-sensing mechanism.

Many stroke patients are expected to rehabilitate at home, which limits their access to proper rehabilitation equipment, treatment, or assessment by therapists. We have developed a novel telerehabilitation system that incorporates a human-upper-limb-like device and an exoskeleton device. The system is designed to provide the feeling of real therapist-patient contact via telerehabilitation.

Electromyography-Based Quantitative Representation Method for Upper-Limb Elbow Joint Angle in Sagittal Plane.

This paper presents a quantitative representation method for the upper-limb elbow joint angle using only electromyography (EMG) signals for continuous elbow joint voluntary flexion and extension in the sagittal plane. The dynamics relation between the musculotendon force exerted by the biceps brachii muscle and the elbow joint angle is developed for a modified musculoskeletal model. Based on the dynamics model, a quadratic-like quantitative relationship between EMG signals and the elbow joint angle is built using a Hill-type-based muscular model.

Comparison of sEMG-Based Feature Extraction and Motion Classification Methods for Upper-Limb Movement.

The surface electromyography (sEMG) technique is proposed for muscle activation detection and intuitive control of prostheses or robot arms. Motion recognition is widely used to map sEMG signals to the target motions. One of the main factors preventing the implementation of this kind of method for real-time applications is the unsatisfactory motion recognition rate and time consumption.

A virtual reality-based method of decreasing transmission time of visual feedback for a tele-operative robotic catheter operating system.

Background: An Internet-based tele-operative robotic catheter operating system was designed for vascular interventional surgery, to afford unskilled surgeons the opportunity to learn basic catheter/guidewire skills, while allowing experienced physicians to perform surgeries cooperatively. Remote surgical procedures, limited by variable transmission times for visual feedback, have been associated with deterioration in operability and vascular wall damage during surgery.

Methods: At the patient's location, the catheter shape/position was detected in real time and converted into three-dimensional coordinates in a world coordinate system.

A novel hybrid microrobot using rotational magnetic field for medical applications.

Magnetically actuated microrobots for such tools have potential accomplish procedures in biological and medical applications. In this paper, a novel magnetically actuated hybrid microrobot with hybrid motion driven by an electromagnetic actuation system has been proposed. An o-ring type permanent magnet is embedded in the hybrid microrobot as an actuator driven by rotational magnetic field which is generated by a 3 axes Helmholtz coils.