A robotic catheter system for MRI-guided cardiac electrophysiological intervention

Experiential learning project hosted in the Department of Mechanical Engineering

Project supervisor: Dr. K.W. Kwok (Department of Mechanical Engineering)

Project information

Project descriptions

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques allow intra-operative monitoring of the ablation procedure during cardiovascular electrophysiology (EP). However, currently it is still challenging to carry out effective catheterization under MRI environment. We present an MR-safe robot for intra-cardiac EP intervention. The robot actuation features small hysteresis, effective force transmission and quick response. Experimental evaluation has verified its capability to precisely tele-manipulate a standard clinically used EP catheter. The slave part of the robot is made of non-metallic MR-safe materials, therefore can operate close to or inside the MRI scanner without adversely affecting the MR image quality.

Team information

Project leader: Dong ZIyang, PhD

Team member(s): Li Zhengyang, PhD; He Zhuoliang, PhD

Project poster

Project video

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Awards

HKU team awarded Best Live Demonstration Prize at the Surgical Robot Challenge in London

This article appears in the news of HKU Engineering Faculty website

Surgical Robot Challenge is a world-renowned event open for application to showcase the latest innovations in the field of surgical robotics. This international event is annually organized by The Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC), and UK Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) Network. Over the last two years, many research institutes worldwide, such as UC Berkeley, Imperial College London, Vanderbilt University, The Hospital for Sick Children, and Israel Institute of Technology, have actively joined the event.

In this year, the HKU team was shortlisted to participate in the final round of the challenge, in which a catheter robot newly-developed was demonstrated, together with twelve other teams….

Members of the MRI-guided robotic catheter system project team in HKUEAA Annual Dinner

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