Papers by Kevin Harrington
This paper presents the design of a modular MRI compatible needle steering driver actuated by pie... more This paper presents the design of a modular MRI compatible needle steering driver actuated by piezoelectric actuators for prostate biopsy and brachytherapy. We addressed the design requirements and fabricated the system for close bore interventional MRI surgery. The needle driver simultaneously provides needle cannula rotation and independent cannula and stylet prismatic motion. The 3 degrees-of-freedom (DOF) driver system is proposed to serve as a slave robot to deliver radioactive seeds in an MRI-guided force feedback teleoperation framework. Moreover, it suffices to be a generic robotic platform to provide the needle motion in a diverse array of needle steering scenarios proposed in many literatures.
ASME 2010 Dynamic Systems and Control Conference, Volume 2, 2010
This paper presents the design of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) compatible pneumatic actuato... more This paper presents the design of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) compatible pneumatic actuator regulated by piezoelectric valve for image guided robotic intervention. After comparing pneumatic, hydraulic and piezoelectric MRI compatible actuation technologies, we present a piezoelectric valve regulated pneumatic actuation system consisted of PC, custom servo board driver, piezoelectric valves, sensors and pneumatic cylinder. The system was proposed to investigate the control schemes of a modular actuator, which offers fully MRI compatible actuation; the initial goal is to control our MRI compatible prostate biopsy robot, but the controller and system architecture are suited to a wide range of image guided surgical application. We present the mathematical modeling of the pressure regulating valve with time delay and the pneumatic cylinder. Three sliding mode control schemes are proposed to compare the system performance. Preliminary simulation results are presented to validate the control algorithm.
Conference proceedings : ... Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual Conference, 2010
This paper presents the development of new prismatic actuation approach and its application in hu... more This paper presents the development of new prismatic actuation approach and its application in human-safe humanoid head design. To reduce actuator output impedance and mitigate unexpected external shock, the prismatic actuation method uses cables to drive a piston with preloaded spring. By leveraging the advantages of parallel manipulator and cable-driven mechanism, the developed neck has a parallel manipulator embodiment with two cable-driven limbs embedded with preloaded springs and one passive limb. The eye mechanism is adapted for low-cost webcam with succinct "ball-in-socket" structure. Based on human head anatomy and biomimetics, the neck has 3 degree of freedom (DOF) motion: pan, tilt and one decoupled roll while each eye has independent pan and synchronous tilt motion (3 DOF eyes). A Kalman filter based face tracking algorithm is implemented to interact with the human. This neck and eye structure is translatable to other human-safe humanoid robots. The robot's ...
2010 IEEE Haptics Symposium, 2010
This paper presents the design of a haptic system for prostate needle brachytherapy under magneti... more This paper presents the design of a haptic system for prostate needle brachytherapy under magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) guidance. This haptic system consists of some recently developed MRIcompatible mechatronic devices, including a fiber optic force sensor and a piezoelectric motor actuated needle driver mounted on a specifically designed 3-axis linear stage. We first propose the teleoperation framework with system architecture, infrastructure and control algorithm for the master-slave haptic interface. Then we introduce some novel sensors and actuators for MRI-compatible mechatronic devices of this haptic system. We developed the force sensor which provides in-vivo measurement of needle insertion forces to render proprioception associated with the brachytherapy procedure. We discuss the sensing principle of the optical sensor which enables two degrees-of-freedom (DOF) torque measurement and one DOF force measurement. The second apparatus of this system is a high precision 3-axis linear stage actuated by piezoelectric motors and position sensed by optical linear and rotary encoders and all of them have proved good magnetic compatibility. The needle driver can simultaneously provide needle cannula rotation and stylet translation motion while the cannula translation is engendered by the stage. The independent rotation and translation motion of the cannula and stylet can increase the targeting accuracy while minimize the tissue deformation and damage. The masterslave haptic system is capable of positioning needle and sensing insertion forces thus increasing the operation autonomy, accuracy and reducing the operation time.
IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 2014
This paper presents a fully-actuated robotic system for percutaneous prostate therapy under conti... more This paper presents a fully-actuated robotic system for percutaneous prostate therapy under continuously acquired live magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) guidance. The system is composed of modular hardware and software to support the surgical workflow of intra-operative MRI-guided surgical procedures. We present the development of a 6-degree-of-freedom (DOF) needle placement robot for transperineal prostate interventions. The robot consists of a 3-DOF needle driver module and a 3-DOF Cartesian motion module. The needle driver provides needle cannula translation and rotation (2-DOF) and stylet translation (1-DOF). A custom robot controller consisting of multiple piezoelectric motor drivers provides precision closed-loop control of piezoelectric motors and enables simultaneous robot motion and MR imaging. The developed modular robot control interface software performs image-based registration, kinematics calculation, and exchanges robot commands and coordinates between the navigation software and the robot controller with a new implementation of the open network communication protocol OpenIGTLink. Comprehensive compatibility of the robot is evaluated inside a 3-Tesla MRI scanner using standard imaging sequences and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) loss is limited to 15%. The image deterioration due to the present and motion of robot demonstrates unobservable image interference. Twenty-five targeted needle placements inside gelatin phantoms utilizing an 18-gauge ceramic needle demonstrated 0.87 mm root mean square (RMS) error in 3D Euclidean distance based on MRI volume segmentation of the image-guided robotic needle placement procedure.
IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 2014
Stereotaxy is a neurosurgical technique that can take several hours to reach a specific target, t... more Stereotaxy is a neurosurgical technique that can take several hours to reach a specific target, typically utilizing a mechanical frame and guided by preoperative imaging. An error in any one of the numerous steps or deviations of the target anatomy from the preoperative plan such as brain shift (up to 20 mm), may affect the targeting accuracy and thus the treatment effectiveness. Moreover, because the procedure is typically performed through a small burr hole opening in the skull that prevents tissue visualization, the intervention is basically "blind" for the operator with limited means of intraoperative confirmation that may result in reduced accuracy and safety. The presented system is intended to address the clinical needs for enhanced efficiency, accuracy, and safety of image-guided stereotactic neurosurgery for Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) lead placement. The work describes a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided, robotically actuated stereotactic neural intervention system for deep brain stimulation procedure, which offers the potential of reducing procedure duration while improving targeting accuracy and enhancing safety. This is achieved through simultaneous robotic manipulation of the instrument and interactively updated in situ MRI guidance that enables visualization of the anatomy and interventional instrument. During simultaneous actuation and imaging, the system has demonstrated less than 15% signalto-noise ratio (SNR) variation and less than 0.20% geometric distortion artifact without affecting the imaging usability to visualize and guide the procedure. Optical tracking and MRI phantom experiments streamline the clinical workflow of the prototype system, corroborating targeting accuracy with 3-axis root mean square error 1.38 ± 0.45 mm in tip position and 2.03 ± 0.58 • in insertion angle.
Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, 2014
Direct magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) guidance during surgical intervention can provide many be... more Direct magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) guidance during surgical intervention can provide many benefits; most significantly, interventional MRI could be used for planning, monitoring of tissue deformation, real-time visualization of manipulation, and confirmation of procedure success. Direct MR guidance has not yet taken hold because it is often confounded by a number of issues including MRIcompatibility of existing surgery equipment and patient access in the scanner bore. This paper presents a modular surgical system designed to facilitate the development of MRI-compatible intervention devices. Deep brain stimulation electrode placement and prostate brachytherapy seed placement robots represent two examples. Phantom and human imaging experiments validate the capability of delineating anatomical structures in 3T MRI during robot motion.
Medical Imaging 2012: Image-Guided Procedures, Robotic Interventions, and Modeling, 2012
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides high resolution multi-parametric imaging, large soft ti... more Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides high resolution multi-parametric imaging, large soft tissue contrast, and interactive image updates making it an ideal modality for diagnosing prostate cancer and guiding surgical tools. Despite a substantial armamentarium of apparatuses and systems has been developed to assist surgical diagnosis and therapy for MRI-guided procedures over last decade, the unified method to develop high fidelity robotic systems in terms of accuracy, dynamic performance, size, robustness and modularity, to work inside close-bore MRI scanner still remains a challenge. In this work, we develop and evaluate an integrated modular hardware and software system to support the surgical workflow of intra-operative MRI, with percutaneous prostate intervention as an illustrative case. Specifically, the distinct apparatuses and methods include: 1) a robot controller system for precision closed loop control of piezoelectric motors, 2) a robot control interface software that connects the 3D Slicer navigation software and the robot controller to exchange robot commands and coordinates using the OpenIGTLink open network communication protocol, and 3) MRI scan plane alignment to the planned path and imaging of the needle as it is inserted into the target location. A preliminary experiment with ex-vivo phantom validates the system workflow, MRI-compatibility and shows that the robotic system has a better than 0.01mm positioning accuracy.
Conference proceedings : ... Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Conference, 2011
Autism Spectrum Disorder impacts an ever-increasing number of children. The disorder is marked by... more Autism Spectrum Disorder impacts an ever-increasing number of children. The disorder is marked by social functioning that is characterized by impairment in the use of nonverbal behaviors, failure to develop appropriate peer relationships and lack of social and emotional exchanges. Providing early intervention through the modality of play therapy has been effective in improving behavioral and social outcomes for children with autism. Interacting with humanoid robots that provide simple emotional response and interaction has been shown to improve the communication skills of autistic children. In particular, early intervention and continuous care provide significantly better outcomes. Currently, there are no robots capable of meeting these requirements that are both low-cost and available to families of autistic children for in-home use. This paper proposes the piloting the use of robotics as an improved diagnostic and early intervention tool for autistic children that is affordable, n...
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Workshop on Snakes, Worms and Catheters: Continuum and Serpentine Robots for Minimally Invasive Surgery. Anchorage, AK, USA, 2010
Abstract—This paper presents the design of a modular MRI compatible needle steering driver actuat... more Abstract—This paper presents the design of a modular MRI compatible needle steering driver actuated by piezoelectric actuators for prostate biopsy and brachytherapy. We addressed the design requirements and fabricated the system for close bore interventional MRI surgery. The needle driver simultaneously provides needle cannula rotation and independent cannula and stylet prismatic motion. The 3 degrees-of-freedom (DOF) driver system is proposed to serve as a slave robot to deliver radioactive seeds in an MRI- ...
Abstract—This paper presents the design of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) compatible needle s... more Abstract—This paper presents the design of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) compatible needle steering system actuated by piezoelectric actuators for prostate brachytherapy and biopsy. Our guiding vision is to design a modular needle driver that can be coupled to a generic gross positioning stage to enhance MRI-guided prostate surgery accuracy and decrease operational time.
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Papers by Kevin Harrington