FUSBOT^US: Empirical studies using a surgical robotic system for urological applications

A custom designed robotic system, FUSBOT-^US (acronym for Focal Ultrasound Surgery Robot), for non-invasive surgery of deep-seated cancers of the urological organs was devised at RRC, NTU. This robotic system has modular multi-axes manipulation components, guiding a set of HIFU transducers through a pre-determined and image-guided trajectory. HIFU is applied using extra-corporeal means with approach to the targets from multiple routes. The robot automatically positions and registers the diagnostic and HIFU probes with respect to each other and with respect to the target in a desired configuration under supervisory control. The user is prompted to select target-areas on subsequent 2-D images and the selected protocol is replayed either in manual or auto mode. In laboratory set-up, the system is tested for tissue phantoms in-vitro and ex vivo trials. The compensated end-point accuracy during these trials is accomplished to within 0.5mm.