Robotics Technology Center

Robotic Arm Performs Surgery on a Beating Heart

Heart surgery will never be the same again! Thanks to a team of French researchers who have developed a computer model of a beating heart that guides the robotic arm to perform a heart surgery with very little invasions.

Researchers at France's Montpellier Laboratory of Informatics, Robotics, and Microelectronics developed a 3D computerized model of the heart that monitors its surface motion as it beats. It also monitors the movement of the patient's chest during breathing so every moment of the surgical hands are dependent on these heart and chest motions.

This new computer model is also known as the "thin-plate spline deformable model," which allows the robotic arm to continually adjust to heart and chest movements during surgery in real time. In a way, the surgeons are like operating on a steady heart.

deformable balloon model of the left ventricle

The 'robotic' device uses 3-D ultrasound images to predict and compensate for the motion of the heart so that the surgeon can work on a faulty valve as it moves. With this innovation, serious heart surgery will no longer be as critical as before. The robotic surgery also allows for quicker patient recovery. The patient can leave the hospital within the day without any fear of further complications.

Click here to read more about Thin-Plate Spline Deformable Model, Robotic Heart Surgery, Surgery on a Beating Heart