Group 13: An Improved GUI and Visual Navigation of the Robo-ELF

Overview: This paper presents the work of a group from the University of Strasbourg, developing a robotically assisted flexible endoscope for minimally invasive surgery. They develop methods to automatically compensate for patient breathing motion and for motor backlash. They present an in-lab experiment using an artificial phantom and an in vivo experiment with an anesthetized pig. In the paper, the group describes the design of their system, their basic control scheme using visual servoing, derivation and validation of a kinematic model for the endoscope, methods for compensating for periodic breathing motion and motor backlash, and experimental results of their system. This paper was selected because the goals and methods of the work are very similar to our own. We are also developing a system to robotically control a flexible endoscope, and there are, to our knowledge, few projects similar to ours anywhere. We have had to find a kinematic model for our flexible endoscope, just as the Strasbourg group does. Part of our future work includes developing the methods described in this paper to compensate for breathing motion and motor backlash. If we decide to adapt our current system for a bronchoscope, both of these techniques will be necessary additions, and the work presented in this paper will be invaluable to our efforts.