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Cognitive Vision in Robotic Surgery

Head of Group

Dr Stamatia Giannarou

About us

The Cognitive Vision in Robotic Surgery Lab is developing computer vision and AI techniques for intraoperative navigation and real-time tissue characterisation.

What we do

Surgery is undergoing rapid changes driven by recent technological advances and our on-going pursuit towards early intervention and personalised treatment. We are developing computer vision and Artificial Intelligence techniques for intraoperative navigation and real-time tissue characterisation during minimally invasive and robot-assisted operations to improve both the efficacy and safety of surgical procedures. Our work will revolutionize the treatment of cancers and pave the way for autonomous robot-assisted interventions.

Why it is important?

With recent advances in medical imaging, sensing, and robotics, surgical oncology is entering a new era of early intervention, personalised treatment, and faster patient recovery. The main goal is to completely remove cancerous tissue while minimising damage to surrounding areas. However, achieving this can be challenging, often leading to imprecise surgeries, high re-excision rates, and reduced quality of life due to unintended injuries. Therefore, technologies that enhance cancer detection and enable more precise surgeries may improve patient outcomes.

How can it benefit patients?

Our methods aim to ensure patients receive accurate and timely surgical treatment while reducing surgeons' mental workload, overcoming limitations, and minimizing errors. By improving tumor excision, our hybrid diagnostic and therapeutic tools will lower recurrence rates and enhance survival outcomes. More complete tumor removal will also reduce the need for repeat procedures, improving patient quality of life, life expectancy, and benefiting society and the economy.

Meet the team

Dr Stamatia Giannarou
Senior Lecturer

Dr Po Wen Lo
Research Associate

Mr Alfie Roddan
Research Postgraduate

Mr Alistair G Weld
Research Postgraduate

Mr Chi Xu
Research Assistant

Mr Haozheng Xu
Research Assistant in Surgical Robot Vision

Mr Yihang Zhou
Research Assistant

Citation

BibTex format

@article{DeLorey:2023:10.1002/tbio.202200015,
author = {DeLorey, C and Davids, JD and Cartucho, J and Xu, C and Roddan, A and Nimer, A and Ashrafian, H and Darzi, A and Thompson, AJ and Akhond, S and Runciman, M and Mylonas, G and Giannarou, S and Avery, J},
doi = {10.1002/tbio.202200015},
journal = {Translational Biophotonics},
title = {A cabledriven soft robotic endeffector actuator for probebased confocal laser endomicroscopy: Development and preclinical validation},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/tbio.202200015},
volume = {5},
year = {2023}
}

Download

RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Soft robotics is becoming a popular choice for end-effectors. An end-effector was designed that has various advantages including ease of manufacturing, simplicity and control. This device may have the advantage of enabling probe-based devices to intraoperatively measure cancer histology, because it can flexibly and gently position a probe perpendicularly over an area of delicate tissue. This is demonstrated in a neurosurgical setting where accurate cancer resection has been limited by lack of accurate visualisation and impaired tumour margin delineation with the need for in-situ histology. Conventional surgical robotic end-effectors are unsuitable to accommodate a probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy (p-CLE) probe because of their rigid and non-deformable properties, which can damage the thin probe. We have therefore designed a new soft robotic platform, which is advantageous by conforming to the probe's shape to avoid damage and to facilitate precision scanning.
AU  - DeLorey,C
AU  - Davids,JD
AU  - Cartucho,J
AU  - Xu,C
AU  - Roddan,A
AU  - Nimer,A
AU  - Ashrafian,H
AU  - Darzi,A
AU  - Thompson,AJ
AU  - Akhond,S
AU  - Runciman,M
AU  - Mylonas,G
AU  - Giannarou,S
AU  - Avery,J
DO  - 10.1002/tbio.202200015
PY  - 2023///
SN  - 2627-1850
TI  - A cabledriven soft robotic endeffector actuator for probebased confocal laser endomicroscopy: Development and preclinical validation
T2  - Translational Biophotonics
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/tbio.202200015
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/112183
VL  - 5
ER  -