Robotic-assisted burring in total hip replacement: A new surgical technique to optimise acetabular preparation.

BACKGROUND: In Total Hip replacement (THR) surgery, a critical step is to cut an accurate hemisphere into the acetabulum so that the component can be fitted accurately and obtain early stability. This study aims to determine whether burring rather than reaming the acetabulum can achieve greater accuracy in the creation of this hemisphere. METHODS: A preliminary robotic system was developed to demonstrate the feasibility of burring the acetabulum using the Universal Robot (UR10). The study will describe mechanical design, robot trajectory optimisation, control algorithm development, and results from phantom experiments compared with both robotic reaming and conventional reaming. The system was also tested in a cadaver experiment. RESULTS: The proposed robotic burring system can produce a surface in 2 min with an average error of 0.1 and 0.18 mm, when cutting polyurethane bone block #15 and #30, respectively. The performance was better than robotic reaming and conventional hand reaming. CONCLUSION: The proposed robotic burring system outperformed robotic and conventional reaming methods to produce an accurate acetabular cavity. The findings show the potential usage of a robotic-assisted burring in THR for acetabular preparation.

Proof of concept study for using UR10 robot to help total hip replacement.

BACKGROUND: The demand for total hip replacement (THR) for treating osteoarthritis has grown substantially worldwide. The existing robotic systems used in THR are invasive and costly. This study aims to develop a less-invasive and low-cost robotic system to assist THR surgery. METHODS: A preliminary robotic reaming system was developed based on a UR10 robot equipped with a reamer to cut acetabulum. A novel approach was proposed to cut through a 5 mm hole in femur such that the operation is less invasive to the patients. RESULTS: The average error of the cutting hemisphere by the robotic reaming system is 0.1182 mm which is smaller than the average result reaming by hand (0.1301 mm). CONCLUSION: The robotic reaming can help make THR procedures less invasive and more accurate. Moreover, the system is expected to be significantly less expensive than the robotic systems available in the market at present.

A multi-stage design framework for the development of task-specific robotic exoskeletons.

This work presents a multi-stage design framework for developing robotic exoskeletons suited for specific tasks, such as individualized exercises that meet the needs of patients undergoing physical therapy. The framework systematically develops the exoskeleton based on the required task space, represented by a set of limb poses which may be defined directly, or indirectly using means such as motion capture. The design process seeks to maximize the poses inside and surrounding the defined task space whilst ensuring additional criteria required to perform the task are satisfied. A case study demonstrates the framework applied to develop two variations of shoulder exoskeleton suited for two specific upper limb activities. Prototype exoskeletons based on the framework's outcomes were constructed, and their suitability for use in their intended tasks were evaluated.