Biomechanical studies of the knee for medical robotics applications, and review on other medical robotics systems

Alon Wolf

Abstract

In my talk I will review the current research activities that my students and I are involved with. Since the focus of my work is in theoretical kinematics, analysis and synthesis of mechanical structures with application to medical robotics, the majority of the projects are somehow related to these areas of research.

The first topic that I will review in my talk is related to biomechanics study of the knee. The goal of this study is to create an accurate knee-specific (patient specific) kinematic model incorporating geometry and soft and hard tissues properties that can simulate knee motion. In another relatively new work related to knee (joint) kinematics we try to identify knee pathologies while tracking knee motion and defining it as clusters of screw coordinates in high dimensional space. These biomechanical studies would ultimately serve as pre-operative tools for operational simulation and outcome evaluation.

Following this I will also review our latest efforts in developing medical robots for joint arthroplasty (MBARS), Cardiac interventions (mini snake robot), a robotic system for MIS (minimally invasive surgery) ultrasound-guided prostate Brachytherapy.

Finally, if time permits, I will briefly present two other research topics regarding the analysis and synthesis of robotic structure by using graph theory and Maxwell theorem, and screw theory for interpretation of singularities in parallel robots for MEMS fabrication.

Presentation Slides

Pdf (2.8Mb)

 

Speaker Appointments

For appointments, please contact Alon Wolf (alon.wolf@cmu.edu).