Detection of Curved Robots using 3D Ultrasound.
Three-dimensional ultrasound can be an effective imaging modality for image-guided interventions since it enables visualization of both the instruments and the tissue. For robotic applications, its realtime frame rates create the potential for image-based instrument tracking and servoing. These capabilities can enable improved instrument visualization, compensation for tissue motion as well as surgical task automation. Continuum robots, whose shape comprises a smooth curve along their length, are well suited for minimally invasive procedures. Existing techniques for ultrasound tracking, however, are limited to straight, laparoscopic-type instruments and thus are not applicable to continuum robot tracking. Toward the goal of developing tracking algorithms for continuum robots, this paper presents a method for detecting a robot comprised of a single constant curvature in a 3D ultrasound volume. Computational efficiency is achieved by decomposing the six-dimensional circle estimation problem into two sequential three-dimensional estimation problems. Simulation and experiment are used to evaluate the proposed method.
Hongliang Ren, Ph.D.,  hongliang.ren@childrens.harvard.edu , Nikolay V. Vasilyev, M.D.,  Nikolay.Vasilyev@cardio.chboston.org  and Pierre Dupont, Ph.D.,  pierre.dupont@childrens.harvard.edu  are with the Department of Cardiac Surgery, Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA, 02115 USA.
Hongliang
H
Ren
Nikolay V
NV
Vasilyev
Pierre E
PE
Dupont