Dr Kwok Ka-Wai, and his research students, Fang Ge, Marco Chow, Justin Ho, He Zhuoliang, Wang Kui, from Department of Mechanical Engineering, developed a soft robotic platform capable to leverage real-time intra-operative magnetic resonance (MR) imaging (MRI) guidance, resulting in safe and precise control of laser ablation. The microvolume (<0.004 ml) hydraulic-driven soft robot is MR-compatible. The robot design is also compact in size (~12mm x 100mm) and light in weight (~200g), while providing 5 degrees-of-freedom (DOFs) to perform laser treatment in oral and pharyngeal cavities. The robot can anchor in the oral cavity so as to enable steady endoscopic intervention, and localisation under the MRI. Submillimeter laser steering accuracy was demonstrated with a mean error < 0.20 mm, with learning-based controller adopted for nonlinear robot actuation. The innovation has recently been published in Science Robotics.
Details of publication:
G. Fang, M.C.K. Chow, J.D.L. Ho, Z. He, K. Wang, T.C. Ng, J.K.H. Tsoi, P.L. Chan, H.C. Chang, D.T.M. Chan, C. Holsinger, J.Y.K. Chan, K.W. Kwok, “Soft Robotic Manipulator for Intra-operative MRI-guided Transoral Laser Microsurgery”, Science Robotics, Vol 6, Issue 57, 2021
Link: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.abg5575
Press release: https://www.hku.hk/press/news_detail_23227.html