Department of Computer Science at UH

University of Houston

Department of Computer Science

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosohpy

Nikhil V. Navkar

Will defend his PhD dissertation


Visual Force-Feedback Interfacing for Image-Guided Telemanipulated Robotic Surgical System

Abstract

Robot-assisted procedures are perpetually evolving due to potential improvement in patient management and reduction in the overall cost. Integration of an imagining modality intraoperatively further strengthens these procedures by incorporating the information pertaining to the area of intervention. In a telemanipulated system, this information needs to be rendered effectively to the operator. Among the procedures, which can benefit from real-time guidance are robot-assited intracardiac interventions, such as valvuloplasties, on the beating heart. In this work, we propose an approach for the integration of real-time MRI with the telemanipulated surgical setup and the processing of the imaging data on-the-fly to provide both real-time visualization and force-feedback based guidance to the operator for maneuvering an interventional tool safely inside the dynamic environment of a heart. Experimental studies would demonstrate the improvement in control and manipulation by providing assistance to the operator in realtime via the visual-force feedback interface.

 

Date: Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Time: 2:00 PM
Place: 550-PGH

Faculty, students, and the general public are invited.
Advisor: Dr. Nikolaos V. Tsekos and Dr. Zhigang Deng