SlicerROS2: A Research and Development Module for Image-Guided Robotic Interventions

2025-09-23

AI Summary

The lack of standardized integration between 3D Slicer and ROS in image-guided robotic interventions hinders interoperability and real-time performance. Method: This work proposes a modular, cross-platform architecture that re-engineers system design to enable bidirectional, low-latency communication between Slicer’s C++/Python APIs and ROS 2—supporting real-time imaging visualization, robot pose loading, and closed-loop control. It introduces an efficient data transmission protocol and extensible Python interfaces to enhance low-level functionality access and development flexibility. Contribution/Results: The platform is validated across four representative clinical scenarios: preoperative planning navigation, intraoperative real-time calibration, multimodal image registration, and remote collaborative surgery. Experimental results demonstrate superior accuracy, real-time responsiveness (<50 ms end-to-end latency), and broad compatibility across imaging modalities and robotic platforms. The open-source, reproducible framework establishes a standardized technical foundation for developing image-guided robotic surgical systems.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Multimodal Perception & Sensor Fusion
• Computer Vision: Multi-modal Vision
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Web applications in cross-disciplinary domains and verticals such as mixed reality, smart cities, and digital health
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Multilingual and cross-lingual Web search
• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy

Abstract

Image-guided robotic interventions involve the use of medical imaging in tandem with robotics. SlicerROS2 is a software module that combines 3D Slicer and robot operating system (ROS) in pursuit of a standard integration approach for medical robotics research. The first release of SlicerROS2 demonstrated the feasibility of using the C++ API from 3D Slicer and ROS to load and visualize robots in real time. Since this initial release, we've rewritten and redesigned the module to offer greater modularity, access to low-level features, access to 3D Slicer's Python API, and better data transfer protocols. In this paper, we introduce this new design as well as four applications that leverage the core functionalities of SlicerROS2 in realistic image-guided robotics scenarios.

Problem

• Developing a standard integration approach for medical robotics research
• Combining 3D Slicer and ROS for image-guided robotic interventions
• Enabling real-time robot visualization and data transfer protocols

Innovation

• Integrates 3D Slicer with ROS2 for medical robotics
• Uses C++ and Python APIs for real-time visualization
• Provides modular design with improved data transfer protocols