Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

Haptic-enabled telerobotics has received an increasing attention in the recent years due to the effectiveness of robot-assisted procedures. Providing haptic feedback for operators provides an additional link that potentially improves performance compared to visual/audio feedbacks alone. Recent analysis by Reuters reveals an expected market growth of 20.8% for medical robotics during 2017-2023. Therefore, research progress in surgical robotics is of imminent importance to both healthcare and growing biomedical industry of Canada. Haptic-enabled telerobotics can be used in environments where the presence of operators is extremely dangerous due to contamination or exposure to hazardous material or radiations such as X-Ray. On the other hand, a teleoperated robotic platform can be used for space surgery and telemetry. Astronauts are currently living on the International Space Station (ISS) for extended intervals, which poses a high probability for trauma or medical emergencies. Therefore, there is an increasing need for provision of safe medical and surgical care to astronauts in space. Astronauts in the ISS can assist experienced surgeons on earth to conduct treatment procedures via a teleoperated robotic platform remotely. Despite recent progress, haptic-enabled telerobotics is still facing numerous challenges that require further research in control, communication and human-machine interaction and presents significant research opportunities to overcome issues related to stability, performance, and safety. The requested equipment, a high-definition haptic device and a 6 degrees-of-freedom robot, is the only economic solution in the market that is readily available and can expedite research programs in the fields of haptics and telerobotics. Having a flexible open architecture (in MATLABr/Simulinkr) will also ease rapid integration of various control methods and accommodation of different applications, leading to the increased usage of the equipment. The research programs of the applicants and collaborators that will immediately benefit from the requested equipment include: (i) telerobotic platforms for space surgery and telemetry, (ii) image-guided continuum robots for medical interventions such as cardiac catheterization, and (iii) haptic-enabled localization, mapping, and telemanipulation of mobile robots. The requested equipment will be installed in a zone accessible to other researchers across the campus to maximize its use and to meet the needs of versatile research programs. Postdoctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students will be trained to operate the state-of-the-art haptic-enabled robotic system, and to learn advanced control and experimental techniques, that are important to their studies and in high-demand by Canadian healthcare and other industries. In addition to TMU, this new equipment will expand robotics research capacity of hospitals and industrial partners.