Robotic surgery has seen rapid growth since Intuitive Surgical’s introduction of the Da Vinci platform in the early 2000s. This trend comes as no surprise; robotics brings an unprecedented level of control, flexibility, repeatability, and safety to an increasing number of minimally invasive procedures. It is enabling surgeons to make easy work of even some…
Fiber optic shape sensing generally requires three key components; a fiber sensing data acquisition system, a fiber-based 3D shape sensor, and an algorithm which translates measured optical data to the shape of the fiber sensor. Shape is most often obtained through the measurement and integration of a multitude of strain measurements along the length of…
Fiber optic 3D shape sensing involves localizing and quantifying deformation occurring at one or more locations along the length of a fiber-based sensor. Such deformation may be single degree of freedom bending of a joint and require just one sensor, or, it may be a complex combination of bending, twisting, and axial elongation which varies…
Effective guidance and navigation of medical devices inside the human anatomy is a critical aspect in many procedures, but remains tricky with currently available solutions. While the trend in technology tends to favor electromagnetic sensors, there are many reasons to be wary of their application in the clinical domain. Electromagnetic interferences are a powerful force…