A Master-to-Simulation Interface with Demonstration-Trajectory Guidance for Vascular Intervention
Authors: Mingyu Zou, Shuxiang Guo, Sheng Cao, Pengcheng Li, Jian Guo, Bin Wang, Mingchao Din
Organizations: Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China · Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China · School of Life Science and the Key Laboratory of Convergence Medical Engineering System and Healthcare Technology, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China · Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Biomedical Robot Company Limited, Shenzhen 518000, Guangdong Province, China · Aerospace Center Hospital and the Key Laboratory of Convergence Medical Engineering System and Healthcare Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
Robotic vascular intervention can reduce radiation exposure to physicians and improve manipulation stability, but effective guidance remains challenging because conventional fluoroscopic images provide limited spatial information. This paper developed a vascular intervention interactive system that connects a real robotic master controller with the SOFA(Simulation Open Framework Architecture) physical simulation platform and reused successful operation trajectories as visual guidance in physical phantom experiments. Experiments were conducted to validate the master-to-SOFA control loop and to compare three guidance conditions: no guidance, centerline guidance, and successful-trajectory guidance. The control validation results showed reliable command delivery under velocity-mode operation. In the physical phantom experiment, centerline guidance showed no obvious improvement over no guidance. In contrast, successful trajectory guidance provided a clear performance benefit. Compared with the no-guidance condition, it reduced task completion time, collision number, rollback number, and rotation number by approximately 66.8%, 34.3%, 55.6%, and 66.7%, respectively. These results indicate that successful trajectories obtained under instrument-vessel interaction can provide practical guidance cues, offering a simple and effective visual assistance strategy for robotic vascular intervention experiments.
Figures & tables
Fig. 1: Overview of the interactive intervention system.
Fig. 2: Master manipulator of vascular intervention robot.
Fig. 3: Comparison of physical phantom guidance under three guidance conditions.
Mode
Task
Ncmd
Rc (%)
τˉ (ms)
Std. of τi (ms)
Max. τi (ms)
Velocity
Guidewire translation
300
100.00%
20.25
32.40
136.70
Velocity
Guidewire rotation
288
100.00%
15.28
31.96
173.39
Velocity
Catheter translation
259
100.00%
27.10
38.17
155.54
Velocity
Catheter rotation
270
100.00%
14.50
30.36
156.75
Velocity
Combined operation
1106
100.00%
21.64
36.94
211.55
Ncmd : number of valid commands; Rc : command-to-pulse success rate.
TABLE I: Master-to-SOFA control validation results under velocity-mode operation
Condition
Tc (s)
Ncol
Nback
Nrot
No guidance
20.8±4.7
7.0±1.5
3.6±1.3
3.9±1.1
Centerline guidance
18.4±4.1
7.1±1.0
3.3±0.7
3.8±0.9
Successful trajectory guidance
6.9±1.4
4.6±0.5
1.6±0.5
1.3±0.5
TABLE II: Physical phantom guidance results under different guidance conditions
Robotic endovascular intervention uses robotic systems to navigate vascular instruments and perform procedures with greater precision, control, or autonomy.
Virtual reality training for robot-assisted vascular intervention requires accurate robotic control and effective feedback on guidewire--vessel interactions. This paper presents a VR training system combining asynchronous dual-mode command mapping with sensorless interaction estimation. The system supports velocity-controlled navigation and position-driven incremental manipulation. Guidewire deformation and a Hunt--Crossley-type contact response are combined and temporally filtered to estimate interaction intensity, while trajectory-based visualization supports post-procedure review. Tests confirmed distinct command-dispatch patterns across three velocity gears and the position mode. During hybrid-scene navigation, the estimated response remained low during straight insertion and increased as the guidewire bent within the vascular model. Trajectory analysis yielded a model-derived cumulative trauma work (CTW) value of 15.166 in normalized units and localized regions of elevated interaction. In a preliminary study with 15 novices, physical-phantom task success increased from 53.3% to 93.3% after VR training, while mean completion time decreased from 132.4 s to 96.7 s. These results demonstrate the system's dual-mode operation, deformation-sensitive feedback, and potential to improve subsequent physical-phantom task performance.
Yining Shang, Shuxiang Guo, Sheng Cao +3
Key Laboratory of Convergence Biomedical Engineering System and Healthcare Technology, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China. · Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China. · Department of Peripheral Vascular Intervention, Aerospace Center Hospital, School of Life Science, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China.
Objective: To evaluate robotic controller interfaces for interventional neuroradiology procedures in-vitro incorporating a force-sensing platform to assess safety. Methods: A custom endovascular robot, device-mimicking controller, and sensorized neurovascular phantom were developed. Ten interventional neuroradiologists (4 novices, 6 experts) performed simulated navigations using four control modalities: device-mimicking controllers with and without haptic feedback, joystick-based input, and manual navigation. Navigation time, peak vessel-wall forces, incorrect catheterisations, and prolapse events were assessed, alongside user analyses. Results: Manual navigation was fastest (mean 47.7 s) compared to haptic-on (248.7 s), haptic-off (314.7 s), and joystick (392.6 s) modalities (p<0.001). Regardless of controller type, vessel-wall forces were below the 0.70 N puncture threshold; therefore all modalities were considered safe. Joystick produced significantly more prolapse events than manual control (1.56 vs 0.13; p=0.018). Operator experience was relevant to performance: experts made fewer incorrect catheterisations than novices (0.25 vs 0.62; p=0.035) and applied less vessel-wall force (p<0.0005); these effects were sustained across controllers but accentuated when haptics were on. Users perceived haptic on and haptic off as similarly intuitive, and more intuitive than joystick (p=0.033). Conclusion: Device-mimicking robotic controllers outperform joystick interfaces on most metrics; haptic feedback shows promising but non-significant performance benefits.
Benjamin Jackson, Nikola Fischer, Harry Robershaw +16
School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, UK
Robot-assisted endovascular intervention can potentially reduce radiation exposure, improve surgeon ergonomics, enable telesurgery, support active assistance and autonomy, and enhance procedural precision. However, existing systems often suffer from limited procedural coverage because constrained patient-side setups, restricted flexibility, and complex instrument exchange hinder clinical workflow integration. This work presents a compact robotic system for endovascular interventions that enables continuous translational and rotational manipulation of standard endovascular instruments. The system consists of two alternating carts with pneumatically actuated membrane grippers integrated into rotating gripper gears. Its top-loading design allows rapid exchange of instruments such as guidewires and catheters without changing the robotic setup. A leader-follower control strategy enables continuous motion despite the finite stroke of each cart. The system was evaluated in motion-tracking experiments with guidewires and catheters and in an in vitro vascular phantom. The motion-tracking experiments showed generally smooth translational and rotational motion profiles. Across all tested guidewire and catheter experiments, the mean relative tracking errors were 3.6% for translational motion and 4.1% for rotational motion. In the vascular phantom, robot-assisted navigation reached the target in most trials, demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed manipulation concept under in vitro conditions. The presented robotic system demonstrates technical feasibility for continuous manipulation of standard endovascular instruments in bench-top and in vitro experiments. The compact top-loading design may ease instrument exchange and clinical workflow integration. Future work will focus on improving gripping performance, actuation speed, force feedback, and evaluation in more clinically realistic settings.
Jonas Fischer, Lennart Karstensen, Franziska Mathis-Ullrich
Laboratory for Surgical Planning and Robot Cognition (SPARC), Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Nürnberger Straße 74, Erlangen, 91052, Bavaria, Germany.