Focused section on advances in robotics and artificial intelligence for minimally invasive surgery

International Journal of Intelligent Robotics and Applications https://doi.org/10.1007/s41315-024-00404-4 EDITORIAL Focused section on advances in robotics and artificial intelligence for minimally invasive surgery Kun Bai1 · Hao Su2 · Yue Chen3 · Zhenglong Sun4 · Long Wang5 Received: 11 November 2024 / Accepted: 12 November 2024 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2024 Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has transformed modern medicine, offering patients less pain, faster recovery times, and reduced risk of complications. In recent decades, robot-assisted MIS, driven by cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence, advanced imaging technologies, and smart robotics, has witnessed remarkable progress. The integration of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) into MIS has further enhanced precision, flexibility and stability of MIS and paved the way for more clinically applicable robotic surgical applications. In an effort to disseminate recent advancements and identify challenges and opportunities, this “Focused Section on Advances in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence for Minimally Invasive Surgery” of the International Journal of Intelligent Robotics and Applications (IJIRA) highlights several important technology achievements in the application of robotics and artificial intelligence techniques in the Kun Bai and Hao Su co-lead authors. Kun Bai Hao Su Yue Chen Zhenglong Sun Long Wang 1 Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China 2 North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA 3 Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA 4 Chinese University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China 5 Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ, USA domain of robot-assisted intervention and MIS. The Focused Section includes 6 papers out of 51 submissions that represent current developments of intelligent robotics for MIS, from the perspectives of design, modeling, sensing, perception, and control approaches to promote the applications and real-world adoption of surgical robotics. The first paper “Robot-assistive minimally invasive surgery: trends and future directions” from Giulio et al. provides an outlook of the evolution of robot-assisted MIS and the breakthroughs in surgical robotic platforms and clinical applications. The paper introduces different medical robots and their applications in neurosurgery, orthopedics, laparoscopy, endo-luminal interventions, capsule robots and untethered micro/nano robots. Core technological developments such as navigation, human-robot interaction, and AI that can provide the surgeons with enhanced dexterity, precision, and surgical navigation while reducing the invasiveness and efficacy of the intervention are also discussed. This paper provides a comprehensive summary of medical robotics and related technological advancements, serving as an excellent introduction for the scientific community in this field. The second paper “Teleoperation in robot-assisted MIS with adaptive RCM via admittance control” from Nasiri et al. presents a teleoperation framework for robot-assisted MIS that incorporates an adaptive admittance control system to accommodate a moving remote center of motion (RCM) constraint. A compact, low-cost, and modular custom-designed instrument module has been developed to ensure seamless integration with a 7-degree-of-freedom manipulator. The operational protocol detailed in the paper includes the tele-manipulation trajectory mapping, kinematic modeling, control strategy, and an integrated admittance controller. The system’s capabilities have been demonstrated through various surgical tasks, such as passing a thread through rings, picking and placing objects, and trajectory tracking, exhibiting good task repeatability during robot-assisted MIS. 13 K. Bai et al. The work from Wang et al. is on “An adaptive auxiliary framework for teleoperated laparoscopic surgery”. This paper aims to enhance surgeon’s manipulation performance during teleoperative procedures. Specifically, the authors develop a Bayesian statistics-based target prediction algorithm to identify the operator’s intension, and use the information entropy to measure the credibility of the predicted target. Adaptive velocity-position hybrid control algorithm is developed to realize efficient performance of the surgical tasks. The proposed method is validated in a 7-DoF redundant robot and the results show the superiority of the proposed approaches. In “MR-based navigation for robot-assisted endovascular procedures” from Bijlsma et al., an MR-based navigation framework for robot-assisted endovascular procedures, aiming to enhance precision and reduce reliance on 2D fluoroscopy, is proposed. The framework acquires real-time MR images, segments vasculature, tracks vascular instruments, and generates visual and haptic guidance. The key contribution is the development of an MR-safe robotic platform named CathBot, which integrates with the navigation system to provide enhanced MR-based navigation. The instrument tracking accuracy was clinically acceptable, with a RMSE ranging from 1.30 to 3.80 mm across four experiments. The study represents a significant step towards MR-guided robot-assisted interventions and has potential implications for improving endovascular procedures. The work presented in ‘‘Binocular-based dense 3D reconstruction for robotic assisted minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery’’ from Sui et al. presents a novel binocular-based approach for achieving dense 3D reconstruction, specifically designed for use in MIS. Recognizing the critical need for detailed preoperative and intraoperative mapping in computer-assisted surgery, the study introduces a binocular constraint and data loop-enhanced hand-eye calibration technique tailored for binocular laparoscopes. This approach supports precise intraoperative lesion localization, essential for enhancing surgical precision. Extensive testing on a UR5-mounted laparoscope platform demonstrates superior trajectory estimation with significant error reduction. Additionally, the real-time processing capabilities of this system facilitate efficient 3D mapping and lesion localization, underscoring its valuable role in advanced computer-assisted surgical applications. The last paper “Development of a leech-inspired peristaltic crawling soft robot for intestine inspection” from Li et al. proposes the design of a leech-inspired soft robot capable of non-destructive and patient-friendly examination of intestines, aiming to improve early detection and diagnosis of intestinal diseases. The proposed soft robot is featured with two dual-chambered adsorption actuators and a retractable actuator to enable controlled crawling movements by 13 controlling the alternating movements of the adsorption actuators and the cooperation of the retractable actuator. The adsorption characteristics and regulation mechanism of the adsorption actuator has (...truncated)