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A soft robotics nonlinear hybrid position/force control for tendon driven catheters

  • Special Issue: Soft Robotics
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International Journal of Control, Automation and Systems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Minimally invasive steerable catheters, commonly implemented in cardiac ablation, are currently operated by interventionalists exposing them to X-ray radiation and requiring the dexterity for accurate steering. To conduct robot-assisted cardiac ablation, highly accurate stable control platform for precise force/position control on the moving tissue is required. This paper introduces hybrid force/position control strategy to apply a constant force to the cardiac tissue while tracking the desired trajectory. The position controller is based on a nonlinear model predictive tracking control satisfying the input constraints. Cosserat rod theory is incorporated for the distal shaft modeling of tendon-driven catheters, and the model is reformulated for controller design and stability proof. Lyapunov-based stability analysis is conducted. To apply the controller, the force-displacement mapping of the cardiac tissue is obtained through ex vivo experimental tests. The performance of the controller is evaluated, and the catheter is capable of regulating the force with the RMSE of 4.9 mN and tracking the position with the RMSE of 0.89 mm. The promising results verify the potential of the application of the introduced approach in real applications including in vitro and clinical cardiac ablation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Tabriz, Tabriz, 51666-14766, Iran

    Minou Kouh Soltani & Sohrab Khanmohammadi

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering at Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, 51335-1996, Iran

    Farzan Ghalichi

  3. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Ryerson University, Toronto, M5B 2K3, Canada

    Farrokh Janabi-Sharifi

Authors
  1. Minou Kouh Soltani
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  2. Sohrab Khanmohammadi
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  3. Farzan Ghalichi
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  4. Farrokh Janabi-Sharifi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Minou Kouh Soltani.

Additional information

Recommended by Guest Editor Sungwan Kim.

Minou Kouh Soltani received her Ph.D. degree in Biomechatronics from University of Tabriz, Iran. She received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Control Systems Engineering from University of Tabriz, Iran. She was research fellow at Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada. Her research interests include control theory and its applications to robot-assisted surgeries.

Sohrab Khanmohammadi is a Professor of Control Engineering in Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Tabriz, Iran. He received his B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from Sharif University of Technology in 1981, Iran, M.Sc. in Automatic from Paul Sabatier University, and Ph.D. in Advanced Automatic and System from National Institute of Aeronautics and Space in France. His research interests include Fuzzy systems, Computer Simulation Techniques, Reliability, Decision making and Project Control.

Farzan Ghalichi is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran. He received his Ph.D. and M.Sc. from the Mechanical Engineering Department with collaboration of the Surgery Department of the Laval Univerisity and Quebec Biomaterial Institute, and B.Sc. from the University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran. His research interests are Solid and Fluid Mechanics and Biomechanics.

Farrokh Janabi-Sharifi is a Professor of Mechanical-Industrial Engineering and the Director of Robotics, Mechatronics and Manufacturing Automation Laboratory (RMAL) at Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada. He received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Canada in 1995. He was NSERC postdoctoral fellow and instructor in the Center for Intelligent Machines and Department of Electrical-Computer Engineering of McGill University (1995-1997). His research interests span over optomechatronic systems with the focus on image-guided control and planning of robots. He currently serves as the Associate Editor of several journals including International Journal of Optomechatronics.

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Soltani, M.K., Khanmohammadi, S., Ghalichi, F. et al. A soft robotics nonlinear hybrid position/force control for tendon driven catheters. Int. J. Control Autom. Syst. 15, 54–63 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12555-016-0461-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12555-016-0461-4

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