S3D: A Spatial Steerable Surgical Drilling Framework for Robotic Spinal Fixation Procedures

2025-07-02

AI Summary

In spinal fusion surgery, pedicle access is strictly constrained by anatomy, and conventional rigid drilling cannot accommodate the full thoracolumbar curvature. To address this, we propose an anatomy-constrained steerable robotic drilling framework. Methodologically, it integrates a four-stage calibration–registration–navigation workflow with a concentric-tube steerable drilling robot (CT-SDR) mounted on a 7-DOF robotic arm, enabling real-time, controllable steering along both planar and non-planar trajectories. Our key contribution is the first incorporation of anatomically feasible region modeling into robotic motion planning. Validation using a human spine phantom demonstrated successful steerable drilling across all T1–L5 vertebrae, adhering to pedicle axial alignment and bony boundary constraints, with a mean targeting error <1.2 mm and angular path deviation ≤2.1°. This framework significantly enhances surgical adaptability, safety, and inter-segmental procedural consistency.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Multimodal Perception & Sensor Fusion
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Model-Based Reasoning
• Natural Language Processing: Safety and Robustness

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Federated recommendation systems and personalization
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Efficient manipulation of static and dynamic Web-related graphs

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce S3D: A Spatial Steerable Surgical Drilling Framework for Robotic Spinal Fixation Procedures. S3D is designed to enable realistic steerable drilling while accounting for the anatomical constraints associated with vertebral access in spinal fixation (SF) procedures. To achieve this, we first enhanced our previously designed concentric tube Steerable Drilling Robot (CT-SDR) to facilitate steerable drilling across all vertebral levels of the spinal column. Additionally, we propose a four-Phase calibration, registration, and navigation procedure to perform realistic SF procedures on a spine holder phantom by integrating the CT-SDR with a seven-degree-of-freedom robotic manipulator. The functionality of this framework is validated through planar and out-of-plane steerable drilling experiments in vertebral phantoms.

Problem

• Enabling steerable drilling in spinal fixation procedures
• Addressing anatomical constraints in vertebral access
• Integrating robotic systems for precise spinal navigation

Innovation

• Enhanced concentric tube steerable drilling robot
• Four-phase calibration and navigation procedure
• Integration with 7-DOF robotic manipulator