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.

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.

Assistive Robotics for Upper Limb Physical Rehabilitation:A Systematic Review and Future Prospects

Physical assistive robotics are oriented to support and improve functional capacities of people.In physical rehabilitation,robots are indeed useful for functional recovery of affected limb.However,there are still open questions related to technological aspects.This work presents a systematic review of upper limb rehabilitation robotics in order to analyze and establish technological challenges and future directions in this area.A bibliometric analysis was performed for the systematic literature review.Literature from the last six years,conducted between August 2020 and May 2021,was reviewed.The methodology for the literature search and a bibliometric analysis of the metadata are presented.After a preliminary search resulted in 820 articles,a total of 66 articles were included.A concurrency network and bibliographic analysis were provided.And an analysis of occurrences,taxonomy,and rehabilitation robotics reported in the literature is presented.This review aims to provide to the scientific community an overview of the state of the art in assistive robotics for upper limb physical rehabilitation.The literature analysis allows access to a gap of unexplored options to define the technological prospects applied to upper limb physical rehabilitation robotics.

Comment on“Robotic surgery and liver transplantation:A single-center experience of 501 robotic donor hepatectomies”

To the Editor:We read with great interest the article by Schulze et al.entitled“Robotic surgery and liver transplantation:A single-center experience of 501 robotic donor hepatectomies”[1].It is the first single-center report including over 500 fully robotic donor hepatectomies.For the donors,the overall complication rate was 6.4%(n=32).Postoperative self-limiting bleeding(0.4%)and bile leakage from the resection plane(1.8%)were rare.

Deterministic Learning-Based Neural PID Control for Nonlinear Robotic Systems

Traditional proportional-integral-derivative(PID)controllers have achieved widespread success in industrial applications.However,the nonlinearity and uncertainty of practical systems cannot be ignored,even though most of the existing research on PID controllers is focused on linear systems.Therefore,developing a PID controller with learning ability is of great significance for complex nonlinear systems.This article proposes a deterministic learning-based advanced PID controller for robot manipulator systems with uncertainties.The introduction of neural networks(NNs)overcomes the upper limit of the traditional PID feedback mechanism’s capability.The proposed control scheme not only guarantees system stability and tracking error convergence but also provides a simple way to choose the three parameters of PID by setting the proportional coefficients.Under the partial persistent excitation(PE)condition,the closed-loop system unknown dynamics of robot manipulator systems are accurately approximated by NNs.Based on the acquired knowledge from the stable control process,a learning PID controller is developed to further improve overall control performance,while overcoming the problem of repeated online weight updates.Simulation studies and physical experiments demonstrate the validity and practicality of the proposed strategy discussed in this article.

Robotic complete mesocolic excision for right colon cancer:Learning curve,training,techniques,approach,platforms,and future perspectives

Colon cancer has the fifth highest incidence worldwide and has the sixth highest mortality.Compared with rectal cancer,colon cancer currently has the worst 5-year overall survival for patients with stage II and III disease.Complete mesocolic excision has been developed as a standardized and optimized surgical technique for the excision of colon cancers.This technique has traditionally been performed through an open approach since laparoscopy is generally considered technically challenging.The robotic approach has been slowly implemented for colon cancer,but the newest robotic platforms allow for a safer and optimized approach for right colon cancer.Several robotic approaches have been developed and explored.The expansion of the current robotic platform ecosystem is gradually providing new outputs in the application of the robotic approach to complete mesocolic excision.This review gains an oversight of existing literature on robotic complete mesocolic excision for right colon cancer(learning curve,training,techniques,approach,platforms,and future perspectives).

Long Duration Coverage Control of Multiple Robotic Surface Vehicles Under Battery Energy Constraints

Dear Editor,This letter addresses long duration coverage problem of multiple robotic surface vehicles(RSVs) subject to battery energy constraints,in addition to uncertainties and disturbances. An anti-disturbance energy-aware control method is proposed for performing coverage task of RSVs. Firstly, a centroidal Voronoi tessellation(CVT) is used to optimize the partition of the given coverage area.

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.

An Automatic Implementation of Oropharyngeal Swab Sampling for Diagnosing Respiratory Infectious Diseases via Soft Robotic End-Effectors

The most widely adopted method for diagnosing respiratory infectious diseases is to conduct polymerase chain reaction(PCR)assays on patients’respiratory specimens,which are collected through either nasal or oropharyngeal swabs.The manual swab sampling process poses a high risk to the examiner and may cause false-negative results owing to improper sampling.In this paper,we propose a pneumatically actuated soft end-effector specifically designed to achieve all of the tasks involved in swab sampling.The soft end-effector utilizes circumferential instability to ensure grasping stability,and exhibits several key properties,including high load-to-weight ratio,error tolerance,and variable swab-tip stiffness,leading to successful automatic robotic oropharyngeal swab sampling,from loosening and tightening the transport medium tube cap,holding the swab,and conducting sampling,to snapping off the swab tail and sterilizing itself.Using an industrial collaborative robotic arm,we integrated the soft end-effector,force sensor,camera,lights,and remote-control stick,and developed a robotic oropharyngeal swab sampling system.Using this swab sampling system,we conducted oropharyngeal swab-sampling tests on 20 volunteers.Our Digital PCR assay results(RNase P RNA gene absolute copy numbers for the samples)revealed that our system successfully collected sufficient numbers of cells from the pharyngeal wall for respiratory disease diagnosis.In summary,we have developed a pharyngeal swab-sampling system based on an“enveloping”soft actuator,studied the sampling process,and imple-mented whole-process robotic oropharyngeal swab-sampling.

Disorder-to-order transition induced by spontaneous cooling regulation in robotic active matter

In classical matter systems, typical phase-transition phenomena usually stem from changes in state variables, such as temperature and pressure, induced by external regulations such as heat transfer and volume adjustment. However, in active matter systems, the self-propulsion nature of active particles endows the systems with the ability to induce unique collectivestate transitions by spontaneously regulating individual properties to alter the overall states. Based on an innovative robot-swarm experimental system, we demonstrate a field-driven active matter model capable of modulating individual motion behaviors through interaction with a recoverable environmental resource field by the resource perception and consumption.In the simulated model, by gradually reducing the individual resource-conversion coefficient over time, this robotic active matter can spontaneously decrease the overall level of motion, thereby actively achieving a regulation behavior like the cooling-down control. Through simulation calculations, we discover that the spatial structures of this robotic active matter convert from disorder to order during this process, with the resulting ordered structures exhibiting a high self-adaptability on the geometry of the environmental boundaries.

Enabling Technologies for Autonomous Robotic Systems in Manufacturing

Research of autonomous manufacturing systems is motivated both by the new technical possibilities of cyber-physical systems and by the practical needs of the industry.Autonomous operation in semi-structured industrial environments can now be supported by advanced sensor technologies,digital twins,artificial intelligence and novel communication techniques.These enable real-time monitoring of production processes,situation recognition and prediction,automated and adaptive(re)planning,teamwork and performance improvement by learning.This paper summarizes the main requirements towards autonomous industrial robotics and suggests a generic workflow for realizing such systems.Application case studies will be presented from recent practice at HUN-REN SZTAKI in a broad range of domains such as assembly,welding,grinding,picking and placing,and machining.The various solutions have in common that they use a generic digital twin concept as their core.After making general recommendations for realizing autonomous robotic solutions in the industry,open issues for future research will be discussed.

Robotic Surgery: An Effective Treatment Option for Epiphrenic Diverticulum Associated with Nutcracker Esophagus

Background: Epiphrenic Diverticulum is frequently associated with esophageal motility disorders, such as nutcrackers esophagus. The diagnosis is usually made using imaging studies such as a Barium esophagogram, and esophageal manometry. Surgical treatment options for epiphrenic diverticulum and EN include diverticulectomy and wide myotomy. Aim: The resection of three epiphrenic diverticula and extensive myotomy were performed by robotic thoracoscopy uneventfully. Case presentation: A 65-year-old female complaining of dysphagia for solid foods, Chest pain and regurgitation. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EDG) with difficulty in advancing the endoscope at 25 cm and demonstrating an ED, no hiatal hernia and normal stomach and duodenum. Barium Esophagogram showed multiple diverticula and tortuosity throughout the esophagus. Conclusion: With robotic surgery, surgeons can perform highly precise operations with enhanced 3D vision and control. Through this cutting-edge approach, the treatment of ED associated with EN can be drastically changed, promising better outcomes for patients.

Generative adversarial networks based motion learning towards robotic calligraphy synthesis

Robot calligraphy visually reflects the motion capability of robotic manipulators.While traditional researches mainly focus on image generation and the writing of simple calligraphic strokes or characters,this article presents a generative adversarial network(GAN)-based motion learning method for robotic calligraphy synthesis(Gan2CS)that can enhance the efficiency in writing complex calligraphy words and reproducing classic calligraphy works.The key technologies in the proposed approach include:(1)adopting the GAN to learn the motion parameters from the robot writing operation;(2)converting the learnt motion data into the style font and realising the transition from static calligraphy images to dynamic writing demonstration;(3)reproducing high-precision calligraphy works by synthesising the writing motion data hierarchically.In this study,the motion trajectories of sample calligraphy images are firstly extracted and converted into the robot module.The robot performs the writing with motion planning,and the writing motion parameters of calligraphy strokes are learnt with GANs.Then the motion data of basic strokes is synthesised based on the hierarchical process of‘stroke-radicalpart-character’.And the robot re-writes the synthesised characters whose similarity with the original calligraphy characters is evaluated.Regular calligraphy characters have been tested in the experiments for method validation and the results validated that the robot can actualise the robotic calligraphy synthesis of writing motion data with GAN.

Oncologic outcomes with and without amniotic membranes in robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy:A propensity score matched analysis

Objective:Placement of human placenta derived grafts during robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy(RARP)hastens the return of continence and potency.The long-term impact on the oncologic outcomes remains to be investigated.Our objective was to determine the oncologic outcomes of patients with dehydrated human amnion chorion membrane(dHACM)at RARP compared to a matched cohort.Methods:In a referral centre,from August 2013 to October 2019,599 patients used dHACM in bilateral nerve-sparing RARP.We excluded patients with less than 12 months follow-up,simple prostatectomy,and unilateral nerve-sparing.Patients with dHACM(amnio group)were 529,and were propensity score matched 1:1 to 2465 patients without dHACM(non-amnio group)and a minimum follow-up of 36 months.At the time of RARP,dHACM was placed around the neurovascular bundle in the amnio group.Continuous and categorical variables in matched groups was tested by two-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and Fisher's exact test respectively.Outcomes measured were biochemical recurrence(BCR),adjuvant and salvage therapy rates.Results:Propensity score matching resulted in two groups of 444 patients.Cumulative incidence functions for BCR did not show a difference between the groups(p=0.3).Patients in the non-amnio group required salvage therapy more frequently than the amnio group,particularly after partial nerve-sparing RARP(6.3%vs.2.3%,p=0.001).Limitations are the absence of prospective randomization.Conclusion:The data suggest that using dHACM does not have a negative impact on BCR in patients.Outcomes of cancer specific and overall survival will require follow-up study to increase our understanding of these grafts’impact on prostate cancer biology.

Kinematic analysis of flexible bipedal robotic systems

In spite of its intrinsic complexities,the passive gait of bipedal robots on a sloping ramp is a subject of interest for numerous researchers.What distinguishes the present research from similar works is the consideration of flexibility in the constituent links of this type of robotic systems.This is not a far-fetched assumption because in the transient(impact)phase,due to the impulsive forces which are applied to the system,the likelihood of exciting the vibration modes increases considerably.Moreover,the human leg bones that are involved in walking are supported by viscoelastic muscles and ligaments.Therefore,for achieving more exact results,it is essential to model the robot links with viscoelastic properties.To this end,the Gibbs-Appell formulation and Newton's kinematic impact law are used to derive the most general form of the system's dynamic equations in the swing and transient phases of motion.The most important issue in the passive walking motion of bipedal robots is the determination of the initial robot configuration with which the system could accomplish a periodic and stable gait solely under the effect of gravitational force.The extremely unstable nature of the system studied in this paper and the vibrations caused by the impulsive forces induced by the impact of robot feet with the inclined surface are some of the very serious challenges encountered for achieving the above-mentioned goal.To overcome such challenges,an innovative method that uses a combination of the linearized equations of motion in the swing phase and the algebraic motion equations in the transition phase is presented in this paper to obtain an eigenvalue problem.By solving this problem,the suitable initial conditions that are necessary for the passive gait of this bipedal robot on a sloping surface are determined.The effects of the characteristic parameters of elastic links including the modulus of elasticity and the Kelvin-Voigt coefficient on the walking stability of this type of robotic systems are also studied.The findings of this parametric study reveal that the increase in the Kelvin-Voigt coefficient enhances the stability of the robotic system,while the increase in the modulus of elasticity has an opposite effect.

A Novel Disturbance Observer Based Fixed-Time Sliding Mode Control for Robotic Manipulators With Global Fast Convergence

This paper proposes a new global fixed-time sliding mode control strategy for the trajectory tracking control of uncertain robotic manipulators.First,a fixed-time disturbance observer(FTDO) is designed to deal with the adverse effects of model uncertainties and external disturbances in the manipulator systems.Then an adaptive scheme is used and the adaptive FTDO(AFTDO) is developed,so that the priori knowledge of the lumped disturbance is not required.Further,a new non-singular fast terminal sliding mode(NFTSM) surface is designed by using an arctan function,which helps to overcome the singularity problem and enhance the robustness of the system.Based on the estimation of the lumped disturbance by the AFTDO,a fixed-time non-singular fast terminal sliding mode controller(FTNFTSMC)is developed to guarantee the trajectory tracking errors converge to zero within a fixed time.The settling time is independent of the initial state of the system.In addition,the stability of the AFTDO and FTNFTSMC is strictly proved by using Lyapunov method.Finally,the fixed-time NFESM(FTNFTSM) algorithm is validated on a 2-link manipulator and comparisons with other existing sliding mode controllers(SMCs) are performed.The comparative results confirm that the FTNFTSMC has superior control performance.

Robotic-assisted retroperitoneal lymph node dissection for stage II testicular cancer

Objective:To evaluate the perioperative as well as early oncological outcomes of patients undergoing robotic retroperitoneal lymph node dissection for treatment of testicular cancer.Methods:We conducted a prospective consecutive case series of patients undergoing robotic assisted retroperitoneal lymph node dissection for metastatic testicular cancer between May 2018 and July 2021 at our institution.Data were collected on patient and tumour characteristics,intraoperative and postoperative parameters,and functional and oncological outcomes.Descriptive statistics are presented.Results:Nineteen patients were identified;18(94.7%)completed the procedure robotically and one was converted to open surgery;78.9%of patients had stage≥IIB and 12(63.2%)patients had undergone prior chemotherapy.The median operative time was 300(interquartile range[IQR]240-315)min.Median blood loss was 100(IQR 50-175)mL.Median length of stay was 2(range 1-11)days.All robotically completed patients commenced diet and passed flatus on Day 1 and were discharged by Day 3.The median lymph node yield was 40.5(IQR 38-51)nodes.All patients undergoing nerve-sparing procedures recovered antegrade ejaculatory function.One patient had a Clavien-Dindo III complication(chylous ascites requiring drainage).At a median follow-up of 22.3(IQR 16.3-24.9)months,one patient developed retroperitoneal recurrence,which was successfully treated with second-line chemotherapy;no other patients have had recurrences.Conclusion:Robotic retroperitoneal lymph node dissection is a safe and feasible alternative to open surgery in appropriately selected patients,offering low morbidity.Early oncological outcomes are promising.Larger cohorts and longer follow-ups are required to validate our institution's findings.

Clinical Study of Tianji Robotic-Assisted Surgery for Upper Cervical Spine Fractures

Object: To compare the safety, clinical efficacy, and complication rate of “Tianji” robot-assisted surgery with traditional open surgery in the treatment of cervical vertebrae fracture. Methods: 60 patients with upper cervical vertebrae fracture admitted to Baise People’s Hospital between November 2018 and April 2024 were retrospectively analyzed. Among these patients, 29 underwent “Tianji” robot-assisted surgery (Robot group), and 31 underwent traditional C-arm fluoroscopy-assisted open surgery (Open group). Statistical analysis of the data was performed using SPSS 27.0 software to compare general data (gender, age, BMI), preoperative and postoperative visual analogue scale (VAS) scores, neck disability index (NDI), intraoperative blood loss, accuracy of screw placement on imaging, and the number of complications in both groups for comprehensive evaluation. A P value < 0.05 was deemed to have achieved statistical significance. Results: There was no significant difference in preoperative VAS scores between the two groups (Robot group: 8.34 ± 0.61;Open group: 8.26 ± 0.68, P = 0.317). There was also no significant difference in VAS scores at 1 week postoperatively (Robot group: 6.90 ± 0.31;Open group: 6.94 ± 0.36, P = 0.3237). Preoperative NDI scores showed no significant difference between the two groups (Robot group: 43.31 ± 2.67;Open group: 43.84 ± 2.67, P = 0.2227), and the difference in NDI scores at 1 week postoperatively was also not significant (Robot group: 35.69 ± 4.24;Open group: 37.35 ± 3.48, P = 0.0509). Intraoperative blood loss in the Robot group was significantly lower than in the Open group (246.21 ± 209 ml vs 380.65 ± 328.04 ml, P = 0.0308), with a statistically significant difference. The operation time was longer in the Robot group (3.75 ± 0.74 h) compared to the Open group (2.74 ± 0.86 h). In terms of screw placement accuracy, the Robot group had a higher accuracy rate for Class A screws compared to the Open group (102 screws vs 94 screws, P = 0.0487), and the accuracy rate for Class B screws was also higher in the Robot group (13 screws vs 29 screws, P = 0.0333), with both differences being statistically significant. There was no significant difference in the number of complications between the two groups (Robot group: 8 cases;Open group: 10 cases, P = 0.6931). Conclusion: Patients treated with “Tianji” robot-assisted surgery for upper cervical vertebrae fracture had lower intraoperative blood loss and higher screw placement accuracy compared to those undergoing traditional C-arm fluoroscopy-assisted open surgery, indicating that this robot-assisted surgery can effectively reduce intraoperative blood loss and improve screw placement accuracy.

Robotic vs laparoscopic abdominoperineal resection for rectal cancer:A propensity score matching cohort study and metaanalysis

BACKGROUND Robotic surgery(RS)is gaining popularity;however,evidence for abdominoperineal resection(APR)of rectal cancer(RC)is scarce.AIM To compare the efficacy of RS and laparoscopic surgery(LS)in APR for RC.METHODS We retrospectively identified patients with RC who underwent APR by RS or LS from April 2016 to June 2022.Data regarding short-term surgical outcomes were compared between the two groups.To reduce the effect of potential confounding factors,propensity score matching was used,with a 1:1 ratio between the RS and LS groups.A meta-analysis of seven trials was performed to compare the efficacy of robotic and laparoscopic APR for RC surgery.RESULTS Of 133 patients,after propensity score matching,there were 42 patients in each group.The postoperative complication rate was significantly lower in the RS group(17/42,40.5%)than in the LS group(27/42,64.3%)(P=0.029).There wasno significant difference in operative time(P=0.564),intraoperative transfusion(P=0.314),reoperation rate(P=0.314),lymph nodes harvested(P=0.309),or circumferential resection margin(CRM)positive rate(P=0.314)between the two groups.The meta-analysis showed patients in the RS group had fewer positive CRMs(P=0.04),lesser estimated blood loss(P<0.00001),shorter postoperative hospital stays(P=0.02),and fewer postoperative complications(P=0.002)than patients in the LS group.CONCLUSION Our study shows that RS is a safe and effective approach for APR in RC and offers better short-term outcomes than LS.

Robots into Reality--The booming of China’s robotics industry points to intelligent future

“Galbot,please help fetch a plush toy!”After receiving the order,Galbot,a humanoid robot,was able to identify and deliver the toy from among a range of items.The demonstration was given at the 2024 World Artificial Intelligence Conference(WAIC)held in Shanghai from July 4 to 6.