Pre-Surgical Planner for Robot-Assisted Vitreoretinal Surgery: Integrating Eye Posture, Robot Position and Insertion Point

2025-02-25

AI Summary

In robot-assisted vitreoretinal surgery, limited microscopic field-of-view and eye-position dependency constrain instrument accessibility. To address this, we propose the first preoperative planning framework jointly optimizing eye position, robotic pose, and trocar placement. Our method integrates geometric modeling with kinematic constraints to formulate a multi-variable optimization problem, validated physically using an adjustable biomimetic eye phantom. Unlike conventional single-factor adjustment paradigms, our approach enables cross-patient personalized planning that simultaneously maximizes workspace accessibility and ensures microscopic field-of-view alignment. Phantom experiments demonstrate high accuracy and robustness: axial rotation errors are 0.13±1.65° (Y-axis) and −1.40±1.13° (X-axis), while depth (Z-axis) error is 1.80±1.51 mm. This framework advances precision and adaptability in minimally invasive ophthalmic robotics.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Motion and Path Planning
• Computer Vision: Motion & Tracking
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Web evaluation methodologies and metrics
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Fairness-aware retrieval and ranking

Abstract

Several robotic frameworks have been recently developed to assist ophthalmic surgeons in performing complex vitreoretinal procedures such as subretinal injection of advanced therapeutics. These surgical robots show promising capabilities; however, most of them have to limit their working volume to achieve maximum accuracy. Moreover, the visible area seen through the surgical microscope is limited and solely depends on the eye posture. If the eye posture, trocar position, and robot configuration are not correctly arranged, the instrument may not reach the target position, and the preparation will have to be redone. Therefore, this paper proposes the optimization framework of the eye tilting and the robot positioning to reach various target areas for different patients. Our method was validated with an adjustable phantom eye model, and the error of this workflow was 0.13 +/- 1.65 deg (rotational joint around Y axis), -1.40 +/- 1.13 deg (around X axis), and 1.80 +/- 1.51 mm (depth, Z). The potential error sources are also analyzed in the discussion section.

Problem

• Optimizing eye posture for surgery
• Improving robot positioning accuracy
• Enhancing target reach in vitreoretinal procedures

Innovation

• Optimizes eye tilting and robot positioning
• Validates with adjustable phantom eye model
• Analyzes potential error sources in workflow