title: A wireless robot for networked laparoscopy.
abstract: State-of-the-art laparoscopes for minimally invasive abdominal surgery are encumbered by cabling for power, video, and light sources. Although these laparoscopes provide good image quality, they interfere with surgical instruments, occupy a trocar port, require an assistant in the operating room to control the scope, have a very limited field of view, and are expensive. MARVEL is a wireless Miniature Anchored Robotic Videoscope for Expedited Laparoscopy that addresses these limitations by providing an inexpensive in vivo wireless camera module (CM) that eliminates the surgical-tool bottleneck experienced by surgeons in current laparoscopic endoscopic single-site (LESS) procedures. The MARVEL system includes 1) multiple CMs that feature a wirelessly controlled pan/tilt camera platform, which enable a full hemisphere field of view inside the abdominal cavity, wirelessly adjustable focus, and a multiwavelength illumination control system; 2) a master control module that provides a near-zero latency video wireless communications link, independent wireless control for multiple MARVEL CMs, digital zoom; and 3) a wireless human-machine interface that gives the surgeon full control over CM functionality. The research reported in this paper is the first step in developing a suite of semiautonomous wirelessly controlled and networked robotic cyber-physical devices to enable a paradigm shift in minimally invasive surgery and other domains such as wireless body area networks.
authors.affiliation: Electrical Engineering Department, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA. cacastr3@mail.usf.edu
authors.forename: Cristian A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Castro
authors.forename: Adham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alqassis
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ketterl
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Sharona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rosemurgy
authors.forename: Peter P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Savage
authors.forename: Richard D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Gitlin
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000601:surgery; D000818:Animals; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D025321:Surgery, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation; D013552:Swine; D014741:Video Recording / Q000295:instrumentation*; D059015:Wireless Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*