Bernhard Kübler

Bio: Bernhard Kübler is an academic researcher from German Aerospace Center. The author has contributed to research in topics: MiroSurge & Robotic surgery. The author has an hindex of 8, co-authored 21 publications receiving 813 citations.

Prototype of Instrument for Minimally Invasive Surgery with 6-Axis Force Sensing Capability

Abstract: Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) challenges the surgeon’s skills due to his separation from the operation area which can only be reached with long instruments. To overcome these drawbacks, minimally invasive robotic surgery (MIRS) plays an important role. This paper describes the development of actuated and sensorized instruments for minimally invasive robotic surgery which help to increase the surgeon’s immersion and dexterity.

DLR MiroSurge: a versatile system for research in endoscopic telesurgery.

Abstract: Research on surgical robotics demands systems for evaluating scientific approaches. Such systems can be divided into dedicated and versatile systems. Dedicated systems are designed for a single surgical task or technique, whereas versatile systems are designed to be expandable and useful in multiple surgical applications. Versatile systems are often based on industrial robots, though, and because of this, are hardly suitable for close contact with humans. To achieve a high degree of versatility the Miro robotic surgery platform (MRSP) consists of versatile components, dedicated front–ends towards surgery and configurable interfaces for the surgeon. This paper presents MiroSurge, a configuration of the MRSP that allows for bimanual endoscopic telesurgery with force feedback. While the components of the MiroSurge system are shown to fulfil the rigid design requirements for robotic telesurgery with force feedback, the system remains versatile, which is supposed to be a key issue for the further development and optimisation.

Telemanipulator for remote minimally invasive surgery

Abstract: The requirements for an ideal telemanipulator (i.e., robot and surgical instrument) are derived. An overview on telemanipulators reported in literature is given. The new robot for telepresence surgery developed by German Aerospace Center (DLR) is presented in detail in the "DLR Robot" section. Surgical instruments equipped with miniaturized force-torque sensors and additional DoF at the distal end, also developed by DLR, are described in the "DLR Instruments" section. The last section concludes this article and gives directions for further research.

The DLR MiroSurge - A robotic system for surgery

Abstract: This video presents the in-house developed DLR MiroSurge robotic system for surgery. As shown, the system is suitable for both minimally invasive and open surgery. Essential part of the system is the MIRO robot: The soft robotics feature enables intuitive interaction with the robot.

Surgical instrument including housing, a cutting accessory that extends from the housing and actuators that establish the position of the cutting accessory relative to the housing

Abstract: An instrument for treating tissue during a medical procedure includes a hand-held portion and a working portion. The hand-held portion is manually supported and moved by a user and the working portion is movably coupled to the hand-held portion. A tracking device is attached to the hand-held portion for tracking the instrument. The tracking device is in communication with a control system, which is used to keep the working portion within or outside of a boundary. A plurality of actuators are operatively coupled to the working portion. The control system instructs the actuators to move the working portion relative to the hand-held portion during the medical procedure in order to maintain a desired relationship between the working portion and the boundary.

Tool grip calibration for robotic surgery

Abstract: Telerobotic, telesurgical, and surgical robotic devices, systems, and methods selectively calibrate end effector jaws by bringing the jaw elements into engagement with each other. Commanded torque signals may bring the end effector elements into engagement while monitoring the resulting position of a drive system, optionally using a second derivative of the torque/position relationship so as to identify an end effector engagement position. Calibration can allow the end effector engagement position to correspond to a nominal closed position of an input handle by compensating for wear on the end effector, the end effector drive system, then manipulator, the manipulator drive system, the manipulator/end effector interfacing, and manufacturing tolerances.

Haptic Feedback in Robot-Assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery

Abstract: Purpose of Review Robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery (RMIS) holds great promise for improving the accuracy and dexterity of a surgeon while minimizing trauma to the patient. However, widespread clinical success with RMIS has been marginal. It is hypothesized that the lack of haptic (force and tactile) feedback presented to the surgeon is a limiting factor. This review explains the technical challenges of creating haptic feedback for robot-assisted surgery and provides recent results that evaluate the effectiveness of haptic feedback in mock surgical tasks.

State-of-the-Art in Force and Tactile Sensing for Minimally Invasive Surgery

Abstract: Haptic perception plays a very important role in surgery. It enables the surgeon to feel organic tissue hardness, measure tissue properties, evaluate anatomical structures, and allows him/her to commit appropriate force control actions for safe tissue manipulation. However, in minimally invasive surgery, the surgeon's ability of perceiving valuable haptic information through surgical instruments is severely impaired. Performing the surgery without such sensory information could lead to increase of tissue trauma and vital organic tissue damage. In order to restore the surgeon's perceptual capability, methods of force and tactile sensing have been applied with attempts to develop instruments that can be used to detect tissue contact forces and generate haptic feedback to the surgeon. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art in force and tactile sensing technologies applied in minimally invasive surgery. Several sensing strategies including displacement-based, current-based, pressure-based, resistive-based, capacitive-based, piezoelectric-based, vibration-based, and optical-based sensing are discussed.

Force estimation for a minimally invasive robotic surgery system

Abstract: A method of force estimation for a minimally invasive medical system comprising a robot manipulator (10). The manipulator has an effector unit (12) equipped with a 6-degrees-of- freedom (DOF) force/torque sensor and is configured to hold a minimally invasive instrument (14) having a first end (16) mounted to the effector unit and a second end (20) located beyond an external fulcrum (23) that limits the instrument in motion, usually to 4 DOF. The method comprising the steps: - determining a position of the instrument relative to the fulcrum; - measuring by means of the 6-DOF force/torque sensor a force and a torque exerted onto the effector unit by the first end of the instrument; and - calculating by means of the principle of superposition an estimate of a force exerted onto the second end of the instrument based on the determined position, the measured force and the measured torque.