title: An adaptive and fully automatic method for estimating the 3D position of bendable instruments using endoscopic images.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Flexible bendable instruments are key tools for performing surgical endoscopy. Being able to measure the 3D position of such instruments can be useful for various tasks, such as controlling automatically robotized instruments and analyzing motions.
  
  
  METHODS
  An automatic method is proposed to infer the 3D pose of a single bending section instrument, using only the images provided by a monocular camera embedded at the tip of the endoscope. The proposed method relies on colored markers attached onto the bending section. The image of the instrument is segmented using a graph-based method and the corners of the markers are extracted by detecting the color transitions along Bézier curves fitted on edge points. These features are accurately located and then used to estimate the 3D pose of the instrument using an adaptive model that takes into account the mechanical play between the instrument and its housing channel.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The feature extraction method provides good localization of marker corners with images of the in vivo environment despite sensor saturation due to strong lighting. The RMS error on estimation of the tip position of the instrument for laboratory experiments was 2.1, 1.96, and 3.18 mm in the x, y and z directions, respectively. Qualitative analysis in the case of in vivo images shows the ability to correctly estimate the 3D position of the instrument tip during real motions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The proposed method provides an automatic and accurate estimation of the 3D position of the tip of a bendable instrument in realistic conditions, where standard approaches fail.
authors.affiliation: ICube Laboratory, University of Strasbourg, CNRS, 300, Bd. Sèbastian Brant, CS 10413 - F-67412, Illkirch Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6153-5928
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cabras
authors.affiliation: ICube Laboratory, University of Strasbourg, CNRS, 300, Bd. Sèbastian Brant, CS 10413 - F-67412, Illkirch Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Florent
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9267-3792
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nageotte
authors.affiliation: ICube Laboratory, University of Strasbourg, CNRS, 300, Bd. Sèbastian Brant, CS 10413 - F-67412, Illkirch Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zanne
authors.affiliation: ICube Laboratory, University of Strasbourg, CNRS, 300, Bd. Sèbastian Brant, CS 10413 - F-67412, Illkirch Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Doignon
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001331:Automation; D019723:Endoscopes; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D009038:Motion; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D065287:Robotic Surgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D012371:Robotics; D025321:Surgery, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods
keywords: bendable instruments; flexible endoscopy; in vivo image segmentation; pose estimation; surgical robotics