Design and evaluation of vascular interventional robot system for complex coronary artery lesions

At present, most vascular intervention robots cannot cope with the more common coronary complex lesions in the clinic. Moreover, the lack of effective force feedback increases the risk of surgery. In this paper, a vascular interventional robot that can collaboratively deliver multiple interventional instruments has been developed to assist doctors in the operation of complex lesions. Based on the doctor’s skills and the delivery principle of interventional instruments, the main and slave manipulators of the robot system are designed. Haptic force feedback is generated through resistance measuring mechanism and active drag system. In addition, a force feedback control strategy based on force–velocity mapping is proposed to realize the continuous change of force and avoid vibration. The proposed robot system was evaluated through a series of experiments. The experimental results show that the system can accurately measure the delivery resistance of interventional instruments, and provide haptic force feedback to doctors. The capability of the system to collaboratively deliver multiple interventional instruments is effective. Therefore, it can be considered that the robot system is feasible and effective. Graphical Abstract