Project Manager: Dr. Hamidreza Taghi Rad

Collaborators: Seyed Farzad Mohammadi, Alireza Lashii, Keyvan Hashtrodizad, Philip Cardo, Ghasem Fakhrai, Seyed Ali Akbar Mousaviyan, Sajjad Ozgoli, Mohammad Motaharifar, Nahid Khawaja Ahmadi

Project Introduction

In the surgical training method that has been prevalent in the country to this day, the trainee surgeon is trained using surgical simulator systems. It seems that the effectiveness of simulators is useful for initially familiarizing ophthalmology students with the environment and instruments involved in surgical procedures, but many of the educational aspects are overlooked. The main reason for this is the work on a simulated environment instead of a real environment, which, even in the best possible case, is not able to represent all the physical properties and forces generated by working with eye tissue. Also, the skilled surgeon who is responsible for training novice surgeons is not well involved in the training process and has virtually no power to enforce his orders on the trainee. In contrast, in training using the ARASH-ASiST system, the surgical procedure is performed with the full participation of two skilled and novice surgeons. The surgical procedure is performed on real human eye tissue or an animal model and is therefore closer to the conditions of a real operation. The control methods designed for participatory training in this system are designed in such a way that they neither make the novice surgeon lazy and completely dependent on the supervising surgeon, nor do they deprive him of his freedom of action. At the beginning of the training process, the percentage of resident participation is zero, and over time and with the acquisition of skill, this rate increases. At the end of the training process, the resident is expected to be able to control the surgical procedure without the intervention of a skilled surgeon. The communication between the different parts of the system is established by electronic hardware and control software. In addition to the aforementioned benefits in surgical training, other modules that have been considered in the construction of such a system include hand vibration filtering, motion reduction scaling, force augmentation scaling, and instrument position stabilization, which together enhance the surgeon's skills and optimize the training process.

Design Steps

·          Kinematic analysis and selection of appropriate robot geometry

·         Dynamic modeling and robot simulation

·         Design of mechanical components

·        Design of measuring and electrical systems

·        Ordering and providing standard components

·        Manufacturing of mechanical and electrical components

·       Design of appropriate topology for remote control system

·        Assembling mechanical-electrical-computer hardware of the robot

·        Implementing real-time control

·        Performing functional, clinical and experimental tests

Outputs of the design

·      Creating the system For the organized management of surgical training for surgical residents, which has provided the opportunity to develop the necessary platform for surgical training for residents.

·         Proposing a mechanism for grading and diagnosing the skill level of residents

·         The ability to use the designed robot in teaching cataract and vitrectomy surgeries and similar surgeries

·        The ability to cover a spherical sector inside the eyeball with sufficient accuracy and keeping the entry point constant

·       Providing the movements required for cataract and vitrectomy surgeries

·        Flexible design and usability in similar applications

·          The possibility of developing technology in remote surgery using the Internet as a communication channel