Title:

Human Enabled Robotic Technology for Medicine: A Case Study in Robotic Needle Steering

Speaker:

Ms. Ann Majewicz

Affiliation:

Stanford University

When:

Thursday, April 3, 2014 at 11:00:00 AM   Add to Calendar

Where:

MRDC Building, Room 4211

Host:

Allison Mahvi
allimahvi@gmail.com

Abstract

Human-controlled robotic systems can greatly improve healthcare by synthesizing information, sharing knowledge with the human operator, and assisting with the delivery of care. Robotic devices could also enable complex medical procedures currently not possible. In needle-based procedures, for example, straight needles cannot reach some targets within the body due to obstacles such as bones or vessels. Our group has developed a method for steering long, thin, flexible needles with asymmetric needle tips to reach these difficult targets though robotic control. In this work, we bring robotic needle steering closer to clinical use by (1) conducting the first needle steering experiments in ex vivo tissue and live animals, (2) designing an intuitive teleoperation interface for the human user, (3) developing a teleoperated needle steering system with electromagnetic (EM) tracking and novel duty! -cycled spinning algorithms, and (4) demonstrating clinical applications for diagnosis and intervention. This work serves as a prototype to describe a larger research direction aimed at improving human health through the development of novel, effective, medical robotic systems, and through improved understanding of intuitive human-robot sensorimotor interactions.

Biography

Ann Majewicz completed B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering at the University of St. Thomas and the M.S.E. degree in Mechanical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. She is a recipient of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Her research interests are in robotics, dynamic systems, control, teleoperation, and haptics.