Feasibility and medical impact assessment of handheld-mobile-robot usage in image guided craniotomy

Abstract

Purpose - Craniostar is a handheld mobile robot designed for the support of surgical craniotomies. The system is designed as a means of conveying high precision craniotomy path profiles directly to the patient, with minimum modifications to the surgeons workflow, and without the large impact on the Operating Room (OR) of current Surgical Robots. Performed here is an assessment on how feasible this mobile robot is in attaining adequate traction on the surface of the patient's skull, without any negligible medical impact on the patient. Method - A technical study was performed where the system was tested with a number of trajectory profiles cut into a swine skull. The capability of the system in maintaining traction and accuracy was tested along with the medical impact of a mobile robot moving over the bone, both visually and with a FARO Arm, surface laser scanner. Results - The system showed an ability to maintain traction on the skull without any visible or assessable damage due to wheel traction. Conclusions - The results of this study have shown that the system's demonstrated potential warrants pursued interest in the field of mobile robots for surgery, with a system that maintains the high precision of Image Guided Surgery, but without the impact in the OR of large industrial robotics as is common in the current generation surgical robot systems.