AN IMAGE-DIRECTED ROBOTIC SYSTEM FOR PRECISE ORTHOPEDIC-SURGERY

We have developed an image-directed robotic system to augment the perf ormance of human surgeons in precise bone machining procedures in orth opaedic surgery, initially targeted at cementless total hip replacemen t surgery. The total system consists of an interactive CT-based presur gical planning component and a surgical system consisting of a robot, redundant motion monitoring, and man-machine interface components. In vitro experiments conducted with this system have demonstrated an orde r-of-magnitude improvement in implant fit and placement accuracy, comp ared to standard manual preparation techniques. The first generation s ystem described in this paper was used in a successful veterinary clin ical trial on 26 dogs needing hip replacement surgery. It was the basi s for subsequent development of a second-generation system that is now in human clinical trials.