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Development of a robotic endotracheal intubation system
The scope of this project is the development of a prototype to perform robot-assisted endotracheal intubation.
Keywords: medical robotics, endotracheal intubation, mechanical design, mechatronics, visual servoing.
Endotracheal intubation is a widely used practice performed when normal ventilation of a patient's lungs is impaired. During the intubation, an endotracheal flexible tube is inserted within the trachea to artificially ventilate the apneic patient. This procedure can however lead to misplacement of the tube into the esophagus, which can cause death of disability if not quickly detected. A common method to prevent this condition is to use an imaging device within the flexible tube to have an image feedback from the tip of the tube. However, in some difficult cases, the identification of the trachea location within the endoscopic image and the manual steering of the endotracheal tube may be difficult.
To overcome these limitations, we are developing am handheld robotic endotracheal intubation system to assist and automatize the intubation procedure. The system consists in an active intubation stylet that is to be inserted within the endotracheal tube. The system would automatically detect the trachea location, and steer the distal-end of the stylet to guide the flexible tube insertion toward this location.
Endotracheal intubation is a widely used practice performed when normal ventilation of a patient's lungs is impaired. During the intubation, an endotracheal flexible tube is inserted within the trachea to artificially ventilate the apneic patient. This procedure can however lead to misplacement of the tube into the esophagus, which can cause death of disability if not quickly detected. A common method to prevent this condition is to use an imaging device within the flexible tube to have an image feedback from the tip of the tube. However, in some difficult cases, the identification of the trachea location within the endoscopic image and the manual steering of the endotracheal tube may be difficult. To overcome these limitations, we are developing am handheld robotic endotracheal intubation system to assist and automatize the intubation procedure. The system consists in an active intubation stylet that is to be inserted within the endotracheal tube. The system would automatically detect the trachea location, and steer the distal-end of the stylet to guide the flexible tube insertion toward this location.
A first prototype of the device is already under development, with ongoing tasks involving:
- Mechanical design, modeling and fabrication of the active stylet
- Design and integration of the actuation system and user-interface
- Integration of the imaging device in the stylet
- Image-processing for automatic detection of the trachea in the endoscopic images
- Control of the system (implantation on microcontrollers)
We are looking for applicants eager to go toward first experimental validation of the prototype, with a strong background in one or several of the following fields:
- Mechanical engineering and mechatronics (modeling, development and integration of mechatronic systems and ideally cable-driven systems)
- Control of cable-driven systems
- Image-processing and visual servoing.
A first prototype of the device is already under development, with ongoing tasks involving:
- Mechanical design, modeling and fabrication of the active stylet - Design and integration of the actuation system and user-interface - Integration of the imaging device in the stylet - Image-processing for automatic detection of the trachea in the endoscopic images - Control of the system (implantation on microcontrollers)
We are looking for applicants eager to go toward first experimental validation of the prototype, with a strong background in one or several of the following fields: - Mechanical engineering and mechatronics (modeling, development and integration of mechatronic systems and ideally cable-driven systems) - Control of cable-driven systems - Image-processing and visual servoing.