Shared Autonomy of a Flexible Manipulator in Constrained Endoluminal Surgical Tasks

Abstract

Automation in surgery is becoming more and more active in recent years. From the editorial of Science Robotics in 2017, there are six levels of autonomy and the existing tele-operation lies in level 0 (no autonomy). Although full autonomy would be fictional in the current moment, task/shared autonomy would be highly achievable. In endoluminal surgeries, surgeons rely on manual operation of flexible instruments for tissue manipulation and dissection. The techniques are difficult to learn, which makes them a good candidate for automation. In this letter, we introduce our work on shared autonomy of a flexible manipulator in simulated constrained endoluminal tasks, e.g., tissue dissection task in transanal total mesorectal excision and endoscopic submucosal dissection operations. During the procedure, the operator defines the dissection trajectory with a Novint Falcon device by marking via points. The dissection trajectory is dynamically planned based on the feedback from stereo endoscope system with consideration of the deformation of material. Furthermore, trajectory of the flexible manipulator is controlled by an adaptive controller with consideration of the possible collision between instruments and surrounding environment. This framework is validated by a mock up test with a three-degree-of-freedom flexible manipulator.