Design and Evaluation of a Haptic Robot-Assisted Catheter Operating System With Collision Protection Function

In vascular interventional surgery, experienced physicians rely on proximal force sensing to detect the collision and reduce vascular injury caused by surgical tools. However, in robot-assisted tele-interventional surgery (RATIS), providing high-precision force feedback to physician is still a main challenge. In this paper, a haptic robot-assisted catheter operating system with a novel spring-based haptic force interface was developed. With a closed loop force adjustment system, the haptic force interface can provide accuracy force feedback. Moreover, a collision protection function with a proximal-force-based collision detection algorithm was proposed to improve surgical safety. In case of no collision, transparency of the teleoperated system is realized; in case of collision, the provided haptic force will be amplified. The results demonstrated the usability of the developed haptic robot-assisted catheter operating system with collision protection function.