PhD defense : Design and development of devices for robotized needle insertion procedures

PhD defense : Nitish KUMAR

Team : AVR

Title : Design and development of devices for robotized needle insertion procedures

Abstract : This thesis focuses on finding solutions for the design and the technological bottlenecks involving development of a slave robotic assistant for needle insertion procedures. The needed functionalities for the slave device were sought to be achieved by adopting a modular approach. This required the design and the development of different devices which satisfy targeted functionalities. A study of needle positioning devices was carried out which led to the synthesis of novel mechanisms for the task of needle axis translation and the needle axis orientation. A novel dimensional synthesis algorithm was developed to calculate the structural parameters of these mechanism while studying their singularities and considering the antagonistic constraints of system compactness, actuation torques and workspace size. The modular decomposition also allowed to offer solutions for an insertion tool dedicated to needle insertion with force feedback. This insertion tool consists of a device for inserting the needle, a device for grasping the needle and a force sensor for force feedback.

The jury is comprised of Bernard Bayle (University of Strasbourg), Olivier Piccin (INSA of Strasbourg), Vigen Arakelyan (INSA of Strasbourg), Just Herder (TU Delft, Netherlands) et François Pierrot (LIRMM Laboratory, CNRS).

The presentation will take place on wednesday 26th november 2014 à 9.00am in room Hirsch of IRCAD.