The Robotics Institute

Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute

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Abstract

This report describes the development and preliminary testing of a mobile robotic device (HeartLander) to facilitate minimally invasive intervention on the beating heart. The HeartLander robot will be placed onto the surface of the heart through a port inserted below the sternum. It will then adhere to the heart surface, and under the control of the surgeon, navigate to any location to administer therapy. As compared to current robot-assisted cardiac surgery, this novel paradigm obviates immobilization of the heart and eliminates access limitations. Furthermore, HeartLander allows the use of an insertion method that could enable outpatient cardiac surgery, which is not possible using conventional minimally invasive techniques. The current prototype uses suction to maintain prehension of the heart, and wire-driven remote actuation for locomotion. A digitized fiberscope displays visual feedback to the surgeon, who controls the device through a joystick interface. The initial prototype demonstrated successful prehension, turning, and locomotion on open-chest, beating pig hearts with excised pericardiums (N=3). This work illustrates the feasibility of using a miniature mobile robot to navigate on the beating heart.

Notes

Associated Center(s) / Consortia: Medical Robotics Technology Center

Associated Lab(s) / Group(s): Surgical Mechatronics Laboratory

Associated Project(s): HeartLander

Number of pages: 34

Text Reference

Nicholas Patronik, "Development and Preliminary Testing of a Mobile Robot for Cardiac Intervention," master's thesis, tech. report CMU-RI-TR-05-08, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, February, 2005

BibTeX Reference

@mastersthesis{Patronik_2005_4969,
   author = "Nicholas Patronik",
   title = "Development and Preliminary Testing of a Mobile Robot for Cardiac Intervention",
   booktitle = "",
   school = "Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University",
   month = "February",
   year = "2005",
   number= "CMU-RI-TR-05-08",
   address= "Pittsburgh, PA",
}

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