BlueDRAGON

Abstract

The BlueDRAGON is a system for acquiring the kinematics and the dynamics of two endoscopic tools along with the visual view of the surgical scene. The system includes two four-bar passive mechanisms attached to endoscopic tools. The four bar mechanisms translate the tool's rotation around the pivot point located in the port into the mechanism's joints incorporating position sensors. These translation is enabled when the base axes and the tool's shaft axis intersect the port's pivot point. Moreover, the mechanism's axes alignment prevented any additional moments applied on the skin and internal tissues except the ones that are generated intentionally by using the tools. The gravitational forces applied on the surgeon's hand when the mechanism is away from its neutral position are compensated by an optimized spring connecting the bases and the first two coupled links.

CAD drawing of the BlueDRAGON mechanism and its coordinate system

The two mechanisms are equipped with three classes of sensors: (i) position sensors (multi turn potentiometers - Midori America Corp.) are incorporated into four of the mechanisms' joints for measuring the positions, the orientations and the translation of the two instrumented endoscopic tools attached to them. In addition, two linear potentiometer (Penny & Giles Controls Ltd.) that are attached to the tools' handle are used for measuring the endoscopic handle and tool tip angles; (ii) three-axis force/torque (F/T) sensors (ATI-Mini sensor) are located at the proximal end of the endoscopic tools' shaft, as well as force sensors inserted into the tools' handles for measuring the grasping forces at the hand/tool interface and (iii) contact sensors providing binary indication of any tool/tissue contact. Data measured by the BlueDRAGONs' sensors are acquired using two 12-bit National Instruments USB A/D cards sampling the 26 channels (3 rotations, 2 translations, 1 tissue contact, and 7 channels of forces and torques from each instrumented grasper) at 30 Hz. In addition to the data acquisition, the synchronized view of the surgical scene is incorporated into a graphical user interface displaying the data in real-time.

The BlueDRAGON system integration into a minimally invasive surgery setup

The BlueDRAGON system integration into a minimally invasive surgery setup -Overview
MPG Video Clip (2.5M)

The BlueDRAGON graphical user interface incorporating real-time data with the visual view of the endoscope
MPG Video Clip (5.2M)

The BlueDRAGON CAD rendering
MPG Video Clip (7.8M)

The kinematics and the dynamics of Minimally Invasive surgery - Objective assessment of surgical Performance Using Markov Models

(*) Note: Most of the BRL publications are available on-line in a PDF format. You may used the publication's reference number as a link to the individual manuscript.

Rosen J., J. D. Brown, L. Chang, M. Sinanan B. Hannaford, Generalized Approach for Modeling Minimally Invasive Surgery as a Stochastic Process Using a Discrete Markov Model, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering Vol. 53, No. 3, March 2006, pp. 399 - 413

[M006]
J. Brown, J. Rosen, B. Hannaford, M. Sinanan, 'A Passive Mechanical Pantograph System for Measuring Tool Position During Minimally Invasive Surgery (Poster),' BMES 2000, Biomedical Engineering Society, Annual Meeting. Annals of Bioengineering, vol. 28, Supplement 1, Seattle, WA, October 2000.

[M008]
J.D. Brown, J. Rosen, J. Longnion, M. Sinanan, B. Hannaford, 'Design and Performance of a Surgical Tool Tracking System for Minimally Invasive Surgery,' Engineering Congress and Exposition: Advances in Bioengineering, BED, vol. 51, pp. 169-170, ASME, New York, Nov. 11-16, 2001.

[155]
J. Rosen, J.D. Brown, M. Barreca, L. Chang, B. Hannaford, M. Sinanan, 'The Blue DRAGON - A system for Monitoring the Kinematics and Dynamics of Endoscopic Tools in Minimally Invasive Surgery for Objective Laparoscopic Skill Assessment,' Studies in Health Technology and Informatics - Medicine Meets Virtual Reality, vol. 85, pp. 412-418, IOS Press, Newport Beach, CA, January 2002.

[157]
J. Rosen, J.D. Brown, L. Chang, M. Barreca, M. Sinanan, B. Hannaford, 'The BlueDRAGON - A System for Measuring the Kinematics and the Dynamics of Minimally Invasive Surgical Tools In Vivo,' Proc. Intl. Conf. on Robotics and Automation ICRA-2002, pp. 1876-1881, Arlington VA, May, 2002.