Abstract:

In the first half the talk I will present image (MRI) guided robotic interventions. Robotic assistance for precise placement of needle like devices could improve the outcome of diagnostic or therapeutic interventions. Such interventions are often performed under image guidance; image guided robotic system can not only improve the tool placement accuracy but also eliminate the need for manual registration of the surgical scene in clinicians’ mind. This talk will cover recent advances and challenges of developing MRI guided robotic systems for percutaneous interventions. I will present development journey of an integrated robotic system for MRI-guided ablation of brain tumors. Also, I will briefly present MRI-guided robotic systems for prostate biopsy and shoulder arthrography. I will particularly focus on the clinical translation of these systems.

Second half of my talk will be about robot assisted vitreoretinal surgeries. Vitreoretinal surgeries are among the most challenging procedures demanding skills at the limit of human capabilities and requires precise manipulation of multiple surgical instruments in a constrained environment through the small opening on the white part of the eye, the sclera, with limited tool-tissue interaction perception. To alleviate some of these challenges, robotic assistance has been explored to provide steady and precise tool manipulation capabilities. However, in a cooperatively controlled robotic system, the stiff robotic structure removes the tactile perception between the surgeon’s hand holding the tool and sclera, which could result in injury to the sclera. In this part of the talk I will present recent advancements in robot control strategies to secure the sclera from any possible injury due to excessive forces and evaluation of Steady Hand Eye Robot in in vivo studies.

Bio:

Nirav A. Patel received his B.E in Computer Engineering from North Gujarat University in 2005, and M.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering from Nirma University in 2007. After completing M.Tech, he worked on industrial robots with ABB’s corporate research center in Bangalore till 2009. From 2009 to 2012, he worked as a faculty member, teaching at undergraduate and graduate levels. In 2012, he joined Robotics Engineering Ph.D program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and received doctorate in 2017. Since 2017, he has been working as a postdoctoral fellow with Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics (LCSR) at the Johns Hopkins University. His research interests include development of image guided robotic systems for percutaneous intervention, minimally invasive robotic surgeries and development of sensors and control strategies for safety in robot assisted minimally invasive surgeries. He is particularly interested in clinical translation of these technologies.

 This talk will be recorded. Click Here for all of the recorded seminars for the 2019-2020 academic year.

If you aren’t able to join us live or wanted to review the presentation, here is the link. It should be up at least through the end of the Spring semester. OneDrive Link