Development of the First Force-Controlled Robot for Otoneurosurgery

Objective: In some surgical specialties, e.g. orthopedics, robots are already used in the operating room for bony milling work. Oto- and otoneurosurgery may also greatly benefit by robotic enhanced precision. Study Design: Experimental study on robotic milling on oak wood and human temporal bone specimen. Methods: A standard industrial robot with a 6 degrees-of-freedom serial kinematics was used with force feedback to proportionally control the robot speed. Different milling modes and characteristic path parameters were evaluated to generate milling paths based on CAD geometry data of a cochlear implant and an implantable hearing system. Results: The best suited strategy proofed to be the spiral horizontal milling mode with the burr held perpendicularly to the temporal bone surface. In order to avoid high grooves, the distance in between paths should equal half the radius of the cutting burr head. Due to the vibration of the robot’s own motors, a rather high oscillation of the standard deviation of forces was encountered. This oscillation dropped drastically to nearly 0 N, when the burr head reached contact with the dura mater due to its damping characteristics. The cutting burr could be moved a long time on the dura without damaging it, because of its rather blunt head. The robot moved the burr very smoothly according to the encountered resistances. Conclusion: This is the first development of an functioning robotic milling procedure for otoneurosurgery with force-based speed control. It is planned to implement ultrasound-based local navigation and to perform robotic mastoidectomy