Feasibility study for hardware and software project components.
Version 2 of the ENDORO robot, including new motors and a new design for the cartridge (Laboratory of Microtechnology and Medical Engineering, University of Craiova, Romania).
Three robot prototypes manufactured, shipped and under testing in the project partners location:
Indiana University School of Medicine, Department of Medicine and the Krannert Institute of Cardiology, Indianapolis, USA
Medical Technology Department, SINTEF, Norway
INCESA, University of Craiova, Romania
Intensive testing of the robot and navigation software using various catheters and guidewires in rigid and flexible phantoms (INCESA, Laboratory of Microtechnology and Medical Engineering, University of Craiova, Romania).
Development of a new biopsy needle for periphery lung nodules with electromagnetic tracking capability in our facility from the Laboratory of Microtechnology and Medical Engineering, University of Craiova, Romania. The needle was shipped to SINTEF for testing.
Navigation and hybrid imaging software testing on phantom/animals organs during ultrasound endoscopy and stent placement at the training facility from the Ponderas Academic Hospital, Bucharest, Romania. The tests were performed by a joint team from UCV and Delta Healthcare.
Development of a finite elements model of the catheter for movement simulation during transbronchial biopsy (Politehnica University of Bucharest).
Development of a hybrid convolutional and long short-term memory neural network model for real-time computer-aided diagnosis of focal pancreatic masses from endoscopic ultrasound imaging (Laboratory of Microtechnology and Medical Engineering, University of Craiova, Romania).
Development of a Deep Learning Algorithm for the Confirmation of Mucosal Healing in Crohn’s Disease, Based on Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy Images (Laboratory of Microtechnology and Medical Engineering, University of Craiova, Romania).
Development of a Transfer learning model including pre-trained deep convolutional neural networks for the automatic assessment of liver steatosis in ultrasound images (Laboratory of Microtechnology and Medical Engineering, University of Craiova, Romania).
Development of a novel navigation algorithm for lung procedures using fiber-Bragg optics and a convolutional neural network model (Laboratory of Microtechnology and Medical Engineering, University of Craiova, Romania).
Design and develop a smart assisting robotic system for directing flexible instruments like catheters and flexible tip forceps inside the human body using electromagnetic navigation.
Design and develop flexible instruments controlled manually or by a robotic system, that will include steering capabilities to follow a tortuous path to target, electromagnetic tracking capabilities and a working channel for biopsy tools.
A novel method to detect the catheter shape using Fiber-Bragg grating on a fiber optic running along the length of the catheter. This new guidance method will improve the EM tracking for flexible medical instruments and can be used for Position and Orientation Estimation (POSE) / deformable real time registration based on tool shape.
Integration of a new open source, electromagnetic tracking system, Anser, developed by the University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
Design and manufacturing a robotic platform, RoboCat, which is both straightforward to construct and highly adaptable for navigating long, flexible catheter-like medical instruments.
Simulations of the instrument and system testing and calibration/modifications using lung airway model from PP Laboratory.
Improve segmentations of airways, tumor (volume), vasculature (near region of interest mainly, segment), lung / lobes/ segments.
Augmented Reality visualization test in patient case.
Shape sensing FBGS and deformable real time registration. PET-to-CT registration and integration into the planning software platform.
Improvements in the implementation of robot steering using the software platform of IDEAR (Fraxinus, based on open-source platform CustusX).