Related papers: A Hybrid Model and Learning-Based Force Estimation…
Dexterous manipulation requires careful reasoning over extrinsic contacts. The prevalence of deforming tools in human environments, the use of deformable sensors, and the increasing number of soft robots yields a need for approaches that…
Robotic surgery has been proven to offer clear advantages during surgical procedures, however, one of the major limitations is obtaining haptic feedback. Since it is often challenging to devise a hardware solution with accurate force…
In the context of surgery, robots can provide substantial assistance by performing small, repetitive tasks such as suturing, needle exchange, and tissue retraction, thereby enabling surgeons to concentrate on more complex aspects of the…
External disturbance forces caused by nonlinear springy electrical cables in the Master Tool Manipulator (MTM) of the da Vinci Research Kit (dVRK) limits the usage of the existing gravity compensation methods. Significant motion drifts at…
Semantic tool segmentation in surgical videos is important for surgical scene understanding and computer-assisted interventions as well as for the development of robotic automation. The problem is challenging because different illumination…
Robot pose estimation is a challenging and crucial task for vision-based surgical robotic automation. Typical robotic calibration approaches, however, are not applicable to surgical robots, such as the da Vinci Research Kit (dVRK), due to…
We explore whether surgical manipulation tasks can be learned on the da Vinci robot via imitation learning. However, the da Vinci system presents unique challenges which hinder straight-forward implementation of imitation learning. Notably,…
To simulate body organ motion due to breathing, heart beats, or peristaltic movements, we designed a low-cost, miniaturized SPRK (Stewart Platform Research Kit) to translate and rotate phantom tissue. This platform is 20cm x 20cm x 10cm to…
Robotic automation in surgery requires precise tracking of surgical tools and mapping of deformable tissue. Previous works on surgical perception frameworks require significant effort in developing features for surgical tool and tissue…
Cable-driven continuum robots (CDCRs) are widely used in surgical and inspection tasks that require dexterous manipulation in confined spaces. Existing model-based estimation methods either assume constant curvature or rely on…
Previous work has shown that the addition of haptic feedback to the hands can improve awareness of tool-tissue interactions and enhance performance of teleoperated tasks in robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery. However, hand-based…
In this paper, we propose a novel framework that allows therapists to teach robot-assisted rehabilitation exercises remotely via RGB-D video. Our system encodes demonstrations as 6-DoF body-centric trajectories using Cartesian Dynamic…
Learning to manipulate objects efficiently, particularly those involving sustained contact (e.g., pushing, sliding) and articulated parts (e.g., drawers, doors), presents significant challenges. Traditional methods, such as robot-centric…
Surgical procedures require a high level of technical skill to ensure efficiency and patient safety. Due to the direct effect of surgeon skill on patient outcomes, the development of cost-effective and realistic training methods is…
Haptic sensation is an important modality for interacting with the real world. This paper proposes a general framework of inferring haptic forces on the surface of a 3D structure from internal deformations using a small number of physical…
The rise of surgical robots and vision-language-action models has accelerated the development of autonomous surgical policies and efficient assessment strategies. However, evaluating these policies directly on physical robotic platforms…
Precision is a crucial performance indicator for robot arms, as high precision manipulation allows for a wider range of applications. Traditional methods for improving robot arm precision rely on error compensation. However, these methods…
In recent decades, the tremendous benefits surgical robots have brought to surgeons and patients have been witnessed. With the dexterous operation and the great precision, surgical robots can offer patients less recovery time and less…
By learning Variable Impedance Control policy, robot assistants can intelligently adapt their manipulation compliance to ensure both safe interaction and proper task completion when operating in human-robot interaction environments. In this…
Haptic feedback has been a long-missed feature in robotic-assisted surgery, one that would allow surgeons to perceive tissue properties and apply controlled forces during delicate procedures. Although commercial robotic systems have begun…