Objectives

Scientific Objectives

Development of a self-aware dexterous robotic catheter:

• design of self-aware (proprioception) and scanning (exteroception) catheters;
• design of a micro-hydraulically actuated dexterous catheter (outer diameter 5mm, no less than 4 active DOF);

Simultaneous catheter and environment modelling at 5mm/s

• multi-scale geometric, mechanical, physiological modelling of the vascular environment in real-time use
• fusion of pre-operative with intra-operatively acquired patient specific data
• models of intrinsic physiological motion (heartbeat, breathing), through
• active sensing strategies empowered by catheter proprio- and exteroception.

Safe exploration and interaction with moving/deformable vasculature:

• control of local (interaction force/stiffness) and global (shape) robot state
• intuitive and accessible interface for supervising surgeon;
• learning from human demonstration and supervision;
• critical event detection;
• decision-making @ 5Hz under incomplete understanding of the environment.

Clinical Objectives

• development of relevant benchmarks for (training, evaluating) catheter procedures;
• development of self-aware catheters, reduction of dependency on damaging visualization techniques such as fluoroscopy;
• demonstration of the developed S/T advancements on autonomous endovascular aortic valve replacement.