A New Medical Parallel Robot and Its Static Balancing

The preoperative procedure for treating peripheral arterial disease requires 3D mapping of the blood vessel of interest. Because the available technologies are costly and invasive, and have an iodizing effect, new 3D imaging systems are being developed from ultrasound scanning technology using a robot as the probe manipulator. The authors of this paper have designed a new parallel robot along these lines. In response to the great concern for safety generated by the use of robots in medicine, we present a new approach for static balancing to enhance the safety of the proposed robot. Because total balancing is not practical for this device, the approach we have chosen is an optimization based on the addition of torsion springs on the actuated and the passive revolute joints. The optimization consists of a sequence of objectives, which are met using a linear programming technique, since the equations of torques and forces are linear with respect to the unknown variables.

[1]  Wen-Hong Zhu,et al.  Image-guided control of a robot for medical ultrasound , 2002, IEEE Trans. Robotics Autom..

[2]  Etienne Dombre,et al.  HIPPOCRATE: an intrinsically safe robot for medical applications , 1998, Proceedings. 1998 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. Innovations in Theory, Practice and Applications (Cat. No.98CH36190).

[3]  Clément Gosselin,et al.  Static balancing of planar parallel manipulators , 1996, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[4]  Clément Gosselin,et al.  Static balancing of spatial parallel Platform mechanisms-revisited , 2000 .

[5]  Liviu Ciupitu,et al.  The static balancing of the industrial robot arms: Part II: Continuous balancing , 2000 .

[6]  James P. Ignizio,et al.  Linear Programming in Single- and Multiple-Objective Systems , 1984 .

[7]  Philippe Cinquin,et al.  Télé-Échographie Robotisée: des concepts à la validation clinique , 2003, Ann. des Télécommunications.

[8]  Wen-Hong Zhu,et al.  Robot-Assisted Diagnostic Ultrasound - Design and Feasibility Experiments , 1999, MICCAI.

[9]  Sylvie Boudet,et al.  An integrated robotics and medical control device to quantify atheromatous plaques: experiments on the arteries of a patient , 1997, Proceedings of the 1997 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robot and Systems. Innovative Robotics for Real-World Applications. IROS '97.

[10]  P. Vieyres,et al.  OTELO project : mObile Tele-Echography using an ultra-Light rObot , 2002 .

[11]  J. L. Herder,et al.  Energy-free systems: theory, conception, and design of statically balanced spring mechanisms , 2001 .

[12]  Mamoru Mitsuishi,et al.  Remote ultrasound diagnostic system , 2001, Proceedings 2001 ICRA. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.01CH37164).

[13]  Clément Gosselin,et al.  Static balancing of spatial six-degree-of-freedom parallel mechanisms with revolute actuators , 2000, J. Field Robotics.

[14]  Liviu Ciupitu,et al.  The static balancing of the industrial robot arms , 2000 .

[15]  Brian L. Davies.  Safety Critical Problems in Medical Systems , 1994 .

[16]  Mamoru Mitsuishi,et al.  Impedance controller and its clinical use of the remote ultrasound diagnostic system , 2003, 2003 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.03CH37422).

[17]  Gérard Poisson,et al.  The TERESA project?: ?from space research to ground tele-echography , 2003, Ind. Robot.

[18]  Sébastien Briot,et al.  Optimum static balancing of the parallel robot for medical 3D-ultrasound imaging , 2007 .

[19]  Sunil K. Agrawal,et al.  On the Design of a Passive Orthosis to Gravity Balance Human Legs , 2005 .

[20]  Fengfeng Xi,et al.  Static balancing of parallel robots , 2005 .

[21]  Wen-Hong Zhu,et al.  Motion/force/image control of a diagnostic ultrasound robot , 2000, Proceedings 2000 ICRA. Millennium Conference. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. Symposia Proceedings (Cat. No.00CH37065).

[22]  Philippe Cinquin,et al.  A new robot architecture for tele-echography , 2003, IEEE Trans. Robotics Autom..

[23]  Philippe Poignet,et al.  Design and control issues for intrinsically safe medical robots , 2003, Ind. Robot.

[24]  Russell H. Taylor,et al.  A Steady-Hand Robotic System for Microsurgical Augmentation , 1999 .

[25]  Donald A. Streit,et al.  Spring equilibrator theory for static balancing of planar pantograph linkages , 1991 .

[26]  Clément Gosselin,et al.  Static balancing of spatial six‐degree‐of‐freedom parallel mechanisms with revolute actuators , 2000 .