This paper presents our research at bringing the state-of-the-art in vision and robotics technologies to enhance the emerging laparoscopic surgical procedure. In particular, a framework utilizing intelligent visual modeling, recognition, and serving capabilities for assisting the surgeon in manoeuvring the scope (camera) in laparoscopy is proposed. The proposed framework integrates top-down model guidance, bottom-up image analysis, and surgeon-in-the-loop monitoring for added patient safety. For the top-down directives, high-level models are used to represent the abdominal anatomy and to encode choreographed scope movement sequences based on the surgeon's knowledge. For the bottom-up analysis, vision algorithms are designed for image analysis, modeling, and matching in a flexible, deformable environment (the abdominal cavity). For reconciling the top-down and bottom-up activities, robot serving mechanisms are realized for executing choreographed scope movements with active vision guidance.
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