Design and Experiments of Ultrasound Image-Guided Multi-DOF Robot System for Brachytherapy

To implant radioactive seeds through a needle precisely and safely, a novel multi-DOF surgical robotic system is presented in this paper for percutaneous prostate intervention through the patient’s perineum under real-time ultrasound image guidance. The proposed robot, which is designed with 9-DOF, consists of a 3-DOF automatic location platform for position adjustment, 2-DOF for automatic ultrasonic probe adjustment mounted with electromagnetic trackers, and 4-DOF for manually adjusting the guided template. Meanwhile, a new registration method based on the quaternion algorithm and least square method is developed, and the needle insertion is performed under the real-time guidance of a navigation system. Furthermore, the robot system has undergone some preliminary experiments with a laser tracker to evaluate the repeatability and accuracy of the robot system. The location error of the puncture needle tip can be controlled under 0.7 mm in air for the whole robotic system. The acquired results endorse the precision of the robot system for prostate seed implantation brachytherapy. © 2017, Tianjin University and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany.

Development of a Multi-DOF Robotic Controller for Academic Purposes

This article presents the development of a robotic controller for technical training, academic teaching, and research. The controller was designed to interact from 1 to 6 DOF （degrees of freedom） serial robotic arms, actuated by brushed DC （direct current） servomotors equipped with incremental encoders. Controller architecture is based on four components： a processor, a reconfigurable FPGA （field-programmable gate array）, measurement I/O hardware and software. Functionality of the robotic controller has been proved by means of the interaction with an SCARA （selective compliance assembly robot arm）. The proposed controller presents the potential to teach technical courses （like robotics, control, electronics and programming） and to implement and validate advanced control algorithms.

Meet the RT-G:Robot Redefines Policing

In a bustling street in Wenzhou,east China’s Zhejiang Province,a futuristic ball-shaped robot recently made waves online as it patrolled alongside uniformed police officers.Developed through a collaboration between Wenzhou police and Zhejiang University,the RT-G is no ordinary robot.According to Huang Sufeng,deputy commander of a special patrol police brigade in Wenzhou,east China’s Zhejiang Province.

基于RobotStudio的视觉分拣打磨工作站仿真设计

为解决中小型零件混流自动化生产等问题,提出基于RobotStudio的工业机器人视觉分拣打磨工作站的仿真设计方案。根据零件的生产工艺流程,利用UG软件创建视觉分拣打磨工作站的整体布局;通过分析工作站各个模块功能,设计了各模块的结构;利用RobotStudio软件构建了工作站仿真模型。以视觉引导Smart组件和输送链跟踪仿真为例,阐述了ABB工业机器人通过视觉引导获取工件空间位姿的四元数和欧拉角的转换方法,并介绍了视觉拍照、机器人与工业相机通信等动态仿真的设置过程,以及输送链跟踪动态效果的设置方法。为实现工作站全过程仿真,设计了整体工作站逻辑,编制了仿真工作站离线程序,并将仿真工作站同步到实验平台调试验证。该设计可为智能制造生产线的设计、制造及应用提供参考。

The evolution of robotics:research and application progress of dental implant robotic systems

The use of robots to augment human capabilities and assist in work has long been an aspiration.Robotics has been developing since the 1960s when the first industrial robot was introduced.As technology has advanced,robotic-assisted surgery has shown numerous advantages,including more precision,efficiency,minimal invasiveness,and safety than is possible with conventional techniques,which are research hotspots and cutting-edge trends.This article reviewed the history of medical robot development and seminal research papers about current research progress.Taking the autonomous dental implant robotic system as an example,the advantages and prospects of medical robotic systems would be discussed which would provide a reference for future research.

基于Robotstudio的工业机器人课程教学设计与实践

阐述工业机器人实训课程教学实践,将Robotstudio软件融入课程教学中,探讨以实例项目驱动的教学内容设计,以虚实结合手段提升课堂教学效果的教学模式,从而实现教学与实践的统一。

基于Robot Studio的分类码垛仿真设计

针对工业机器人轨迹规划和自动化生产协调难度大的问题,提出一种基于Robot Studio的分类码垛仿真设计方案。使用Robot Studio软件,创建工业机器人仿真工作站。通过Smart组件的设计、I/O信号的设定、工作站逻辑的建立和程序编写等工作,最终实现工业机器人智能分类码垛操作。经过模拟仿真,结果表明:分类码垛的速度和准确率均可达到预期要求。说明该分类码垛设计方案可行,可以为实际码垛工作站的搭建和生产提供一定的现实指导。

Robotic versus laparoscopic surgery for sporadic benign insulinoma:Short-and long-term outcomes

Background:Minimally invasive surgery is the optimal treatment for insulinoma.The present study aimed to compare short-and long-term outcomes of laparoscopic and robotic surgery for sporadic benign insulinoma.Methods:A retrospective analysis of patients who underwent laparoscopic or robotic surgery for insulinoma at our center between September 2007 and December 2019 was conducted.The demographic,perioperative and postoperative follow-up results were compared between the laparoscopic and robotic groups.Results:A total of 85 patients were enrolled,including 36 with laparoscopic approach and 49 with robotic approach.Enucleation was the preferred surgical procedure.Fifty-nine patients(69.4%)underwent enucleation;among them,26 and 33 patients underwent laparoscopic and robotic surgery,respectively.Robotic enucleation had a lower conversion rate to laparotomy(0 vs.19.2%,P=0.013),shorter operative time(102.0 vs.145.5 min,P=0.008)and shorter postoperative hospital stay(6.0 vs.8.5 d,P=0.002)than laparoscopic enucleation.There were no differences between the groups in terms of intraoperative blood loss,the rates of postoperative pancreatic fistula and complications.After a median follow-up of 65 months,two patients in the laparoscopic group developed a functional recurrence and none of the patients in the robotic group had a recurrence.Conclusions:Robotic enucleation can reduce the conversion rate to laparotomy and shorten operative time,which might lead to a reduction in postoperative hospital stay.

Neuromorphic circuits based on memristors: endowing robots with a human-like brain

Robots are widely used,providing significant convenience in daily life and production.With the rapid development of artificial intelligence and neuromorphic computing in recent years,the realization of more intelligent robots through a pro-found intersection of neuroscience and robotics has received much attention.Neuromorphic circuits based on memristors used to construct hardware neural networks have proved to be a promising solution of shattering traditional control limita-tions in the field of robot control,showcasing characteristics that enhance robot intelligence,speed,and energy efficiency.Start-ing with introducing the working mechanism of memristors and peripheral circuit design,this review gives a comprehensive analysis on the biomimetic information processing and biomimetic driving operations achieved through the utilization of neuro-morphic circuits in brain-like control.Four hardware neural network approaches,including digital-analog hybrid circuit design,novel device structure design,multi-regulation mechanism,and crossbar array,are summarized,which can well simulate the motor decision-making mechanism,multi-information integration and parallel control of brain at the hardware level.It will be definitely conductive to promote the application of memristor-based neuromorphic circuits in areas such as intelligent robotics,artificial intelligence,and neural computing.Finally,a conclusion and future prospects are discussed.

Intervention Effect of Lower Limb Rehabilitation Robot with Task-Oriented Training on Stroke Patients and Its Influence on KFAROM Score

Objective: To explore the effect of lower limb rehabilitation robot combined with task-oriented training on stroke patients and its influence on KFAROM score. Methods: 100 stroke patients with hemiplegia admitted to our hospital from January 2023 to December 2023 were randomly divided into two groups, the control group (50 cases) was given task-oriented training assisted by nurses, and the observation group (50 cases) was given lower limb rehabilitation robot with task-oriented training. Lower limb balance, lower limb muscle strength, motor function, ankle function, knee flexion range of motion and walking ability were observed. Results: After treatment, the scores of BBS, quadriceps femoris and hamstrings in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P Conclusion: In the clinical treatment of stroke patients, the combination of task-oriented training and lower limb rehabilitation robot can effectively improve the lower limb muscle strength, facilitate the recovery of balance function, and have a significant effect on the recovery of motor function, which can improve the walking ability of stroke patients and the range of motion of knee flexion, and achieve more ideal therapeutic effectiveness.

Advanced Design of Soft Robots with Artificial Intelligence

In recent years,breakthrough has been made in the field of artificial intelligence(AI),which has also revolutionized the industry of robotics.Soft robots featured with high-level safety,less weight,lower power consumption have always been one of the research hotspots.Recently,multifunctional sensors for perception of soft robotics have been rapidly developed,while more algorithms and models of machine learning with high accuracy have been optimized and proposed.Designs of soft robots with AI have also been advanced ranging from multimodal sensing,human-machine interaction to effective actuation in robotic systems.Nonethe-less,comprehensive reviews concerning the new developments and strategies for the ingenious design of the soft robotic systems equipped with AI are rare.Here,the new development is systematically reviewed in the field of soft robots with AI.First,background and mechanisms of soft robotic systems are briefed,after which development focused on how to endow the soft robots with AI,including the aspects of feeling,thought and reaction,is illustrated.Next,applications of soft robots with AI are systematically summarized and discussed together with advanced strategies proposed for performance enhancement.Design thoughts for future intelligent soft robotics are pointed out.Finally,some perspectives are put forward.

Treatment of hemolymphangioma by robotic surgery: A case report

BACKGROUND Hemolymphangioma of the jejunum is rare and lacks clinical specificity,and can manifest as gastrointestinal bleeding,abdominal pain,and intestinal obstruction.Computed tomography,magnetic resonance imaging,and other examinations show certain characteristics of the disease,but lack accuracy.Although capsule endoscopy and enteroscopy make up for this deficiency,the diagnosis also still re-quires pathology.CASE SUMMARY A male patient was admitted to the hospital due to abdominal distension and abdominal pain,but a specific diagnosis by computed tomography examination was not obtained.Partial resection of the small intestine was performed by robotic surgery,and postoperative pathological biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of hemo-lymphangioma.No recurrence in the follow-up examination was observed.CONCLUSION Robotic surgery is an effective way to treat hemolymphangioma through minima-lly invasive techniques under the concept of rapid rehabilitation.

Bionic lightweight design of limb leg units for hydraulic quadruped robots by additive manufacturing and topology optimization

Galloping cheetahs,climbing mountain goats,and load hauling horses all show desirable locomotion capability,which motivates the development of quadruped robots.Among various quadruped robots,hydraulically driven quadruped robots show great potential in unstructured environments due to their discrete landing positions and large payloads.As the most critical movement unit of a quadruped robot,the limb leg unit(LLU)directly affects movement speed and reliability,and requires a compact and lightweight design.Inspired by the dexterous skeleton–muscle systems of cheetahs and humans,this paper proposes a highly integrated bionic actuator system for a better dynamic performance of an LLU.We propose that a cylinder barrel with multiple element interfaces and internal smooth channels is realized using metal additive manufacturing,and hybrid lattice structures are introduced into the lightweight design of the piston rod.In addition,additive manufacturing and topology optimization are incorporated to reduce the redundant material of the structural parts of the LLU.The mechanical properties of the actuator system are verified by numerical simulation and experiments,and the power density of the actuators is far greater than that of cheetah muscle.The mass of the optimized LLU is reduced by 24.5%,and the optimized LLU shows better response time performance when given a step signal,and presents a good trajectory tracking ability with the increase in motion frequency.

Summarizing the evidence for robotic-assisted bladder neck reconstruction: Systematic review of patency and incontinence outcomes

Objective:Bladder neck contracture and vesicourethral anastomotic stenosis are difficult to manage endoscopically,and open repair is associated with high rates of incontinence.In recent years,there have been increasing reports of robotic-assisted bladder neck reconstruction in the literature.However,existing studies are small,heterogeneous case series.The objective of this study was to perform a systematic review of robotic-assisted bladder neck reconstruction to better evaluate patency and incontinence outcomes.Methods:We performed a systematic review of PubMed from first available date to May 2023 for all studies evaluating robotic-assisted reconstructive surgery of the bladder neck in adult men.Articles in non-English,author replies,editorials,pediatric-based studies,and reviews were excluded.Outcomes of interest were patency and incontinence rates,which were pooled when appropriate.Results:After identifying 158 articles on initial search,we included only ten studies that fit all aforementioned criteria for robotic-assisted bladder neck reconstruction.All were case series published from March 2018 to March 2022 ranging from six to 32 men,with the median follow-up of 5e23 months.A total of 119 patients were included in our analysis.A variety of etiologies and surgical techniques were described.Patency rates ranged from 50%to 100%,and pooled patency was 80%(95/119).De novo incontinence rates ranged from 0%to 33%,and pooled incontinence was 17%(8/47).Our findings were limited by small sample sizes,relatively short follow-ups,and heterogeneity between studies.

Adaptive Trajectory Tracking Control for Nonholonomic Wheeled Mobile Robots:A Barrier Function Sliding Mode Approach

The trajectory tracking control performance of nonholonomic wheeled mobile robots(NWMRs)is subject to nonholonomic constraints,system uncertainties,and external disturbances.This paper proposes a barrier function-based adaptive sliding mode control(BFASMC)method to provide high-precision,fast-response performance and robustness for NWMRs.Compared with the conventional adaptive sliding mode control,the proposed control strategy can guarantee that the sliding mode variables converge to a predefined neighborhood of origin with a predefined reaching time independent of the prior knowledge of the uncertainties and disturbances bounds.Another advantage of the proposed algorithm is that the control gains can be adaptively adjusted to follow the disturbances amplitudes thanks to the barrier function.The benefit is that the overestimation of control gain can be eliminated,resulting in chattering reduction.Moreover,a modified barrier function-like control gain is employed to prevent the input saturation problem due to the physical limit of the actuator.The stability analysis and comparative experiments demonstrate that the proposed BFASMC can ensure the prespecified convergence performance of the NWMR system output variables and strong robustness against uncertainties/disturbances.

Adaptive state-constrained/model-free iterative sliding mode control for aerial robot trajectory tracking

This paper develops a novel hierarchical control strategy for improving the trajectory tracking capability of aerial robots under parameter uncertainties.The hierarchical control strategy is composed of an adaptive sliding mode controller and a model-free iterative sliding mode controller(MFISMC).A position controller is designed based on adaptive sliding mode control(SMC)to safely drive the aerial robot and ensure fast state convergence under external disturbances.Additionally,the MFISMC acts as an attitude controller to estimate the unmodeled dynamics without detailed knowledge of aerial robots.Then,the adaption laws are derived with the Lyapunov theory to guarantee the asymptotic tracking of the system state.Finally,to demonstrate the performance and robustness of the proposed control strategy,numerical simulations are carried out,which are also compared with other conventional strategies,such as proportional-integralderivative(PID),backstepping(BS),and SMC.The simulation results indicate that the proposed hierarchical control strategy can fulfill zero steady-state error and achieve faster convergence compared with conventional strategies.

A finite-time fuzzy adaptive output-feedback fault-tolerant control for underactuated wheeled mobile robots systems

This paper investigates the adaptive fuzzy finite-time output-feedback fault-tolerant control (FTC) problemfor a class of nonlinear underactuated wheeled mobile robots (UWMRs) system with intermittent actuatorfaults. The UWMR system includes unknown nonlinear dynamics and immeasurable states. Fuzzy logic systems(FLSs) are utilized to work out immeasurable functions. Furthermore, with the support of the backsteppingcontrol technique and adaptive fuzzy state observer, a fuzzy adaptive finite-time output-feedback FTC scheme isdeveloped under the intermittent actuator faults. It is testifying the scheme can ensure the controlled nonlinearUWMRs is stable and the estimation errors are convergent. Finally, the comparison results and simulationvalidate the effectiveness of the proposed fuzzy adaptive finite-time FTC approach.

Robotic surgery in living liver donors and liver recipients

There have been nearly 60 years since Thomas Starzl’s first liver transplant.During this period,advancements in medical technology have progressively enabled the adoption of new methods for transplantation.Among these innovations,robotic surgery has emerged in recent decades and is gradually being integrated into transplant medicine.Robotic hepatectomy and liver implantation represent significant advancements in the field of transplant surgery.The precision and minimally invasive nature of robotic surgery offer substantial benefits for both living donors and recipients.In living donors,robotic hepatectomy reduces postoperative pain,minimizes scarring,and accelerates recovery.For liver recipients,robotic liver implantation enhances surgical accuracy,leading to better graft positioning and vascular anastomosis.Robotic systems provide more precise and maneuverable control of instruments,allowing surgeons to perform complex procedures with greater accuracy and reduced risk to patients.This review encompasses publications on minimally invasive donor liver surgery,with a specific focus on robotic liver resection in transplantation,and aims to summarize current knowledge and the development status of robotic surgery in liver transplantation,focusing on liver resection in donors and graft implantation in recipients.

Managerial perspectives of scaling up robotic-assisted surgery in healthcare systems:A systematic literature review

Objectives Robotic-assisted surgery(RAS)is a minimally invasive technique practiced in multiple specialties.Standard training is essential for the acquisition of RAS skills.The cost of RAS is considered to be high,which makes it a burden for institutes and unaffordable for patients.This systematic literature review(SLR)focused on the various RAS training methods applied in different surgical specialties,as well as the cost elements of RAS,and was to summarize the opportunities and challenges associated with scaling up RAS.Methods An SLR was carried out based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses reporting guidelines.The PubMed,EBSCO,and Scopus databases were searched for reports from January 2018 through January 2024.Full-text reviews and research articles in the English language from Asia-Pacific countries were included.Articles that outlined training and costs associated with RAS were chosen.Results The most common training system is the da Vinci system.The simulation technique,which includes dry-lab,wet-lab,and virtual reality training,was found to be a common and important practice.The cost of RAS encompasses the installation and maintenance costs of the robotic system,the operation theatre rent,personnel cost,surgical instrument and material cost,and other miscellaneous charges.The synthesis of SLR revealed the challenges and opportunities regarding RAS training and cost.Conclusions The results of this SLR will help stakeholders such as decision-makers,influencers,and end users of RAS to understand the significance of training and cost in scaling up RAS from a managerial perspective.For any healthcare innovation to reach a vast population,cost-effectiveness and standard training are crucial.

Direct 4D printing of functionally graded hydrogel networks for biodegradable,untethered,and multimorphic soft robots

Recent advances in functionally graded additive manufacturing(FGAM)technology have enabled the seamless hybridization of multiple functionalities in a single structure.Soft robotics can become one of the largest beneficiaries of these advances,through the design of a facile four-dimensional(4D)FGAM process that can grant an intelligent stimuli-responsive mechanical functionality to the printed objects.Herein,we present a simple binder jetting approach for the 4D printing of functionally graded porous multi-materials(FGMM)by introducing rationally designed graded multiphase feeder beds.Compositionally graded cross-linking agents gradually form stable porous network structures within aqueous polymer particles,enabling programmable hygroscopic deformation without complex mechanical designs.Furthermore,a systematic bed design incorporating additional functional agents enables a multi-stimuli-responsive and untethered soft robot with stark stimulus selectivity.The biodegradability of the proposed 4D-printed soft robot further ensures the sustainability of our approach,with immediate degradation rates of 96.6%within 72 h.The proposed 4D printing concept for FGMMs can create new opportunities for intelligent and sustainable additive manufacturing in soft robotics.