Robot Assisted Endovascular Intervention: Device Design and Innovation

Lead Research Organisation: Imperial College London
Department Name: Computing

Abstract

Vascular disease is the most common precursor to ischaemic heart disease and stroke, which are two of the leading causes of death worldwide. Advances in endovascular intervention in recent years have transformed patient survival rates and post-surgical quality of life. Compared to open surgery, it has the advantages of faster recovery, reduced need for general anaesthesia, reduced blood loss and significantly lower mortality. However, endovascular intervention involves complex manoeuvring of pre-shaped catheters to reach target areas in the vasculature. Some endovascular tasks can be challenging for even highly-skilled operators. The use of robot assisted endovascular intervention aims to address some of these difficulties, with the added benefit of allowing the operator to remotely control and manipulate devices, thus avoiding exposure to X-ray radiation. The purpose of this work is to develop a new robot-assisted endovascular platform, incorporating novel device designs with improved human-robot control. It builds on our strong partnership with industry aiming to develop the next generation robots that are safe, effective, and accessible to general NHS populations.

Planned Impact

The research is in line with Frontiers of Physical Intervention, one of the four EPSRC health technology grand challenges, and addresses major research issues in medical device design and innovation, with effective integration of robotics and autonomous systems.
A significant focus of this project is the amount of measureable impact generated by its research results. The project and its industrial partners (Hansen Medical, Intel and Kuka) will work together to ensure that impact is accelerated. A number of impact activities are planned with our project partners and funds are requested for some of these. The project will stimulate creative and adventurous research that underpins the key objectives of the project.

With respect to the Impact and Translation tool, the proposed project touches upon all the topics involved.
- Ethics: The project will go through ethical approval for the use of patient imaging data and the appropriate licences to perform preclinical experiments with the system prototypes; these will be acquired prior project start. The use of animal models for preclinical evaluation will be approved by Home Office and we will adhere strictly to the 3R principles of animal research.
- Health economics and evaluation: Health economic analysis will be performed as one of the impact activities and funding is requested for this.
- Public engagement: The research will involve extensive public and end-user engagement as part of our impact activities.
- Regulation: With our project partners, issues regarding device safety and regulatory pathways will be addressed.
- Research project design: The project will focus on preclinical and precompetitive stage research with all impact partners; academic results will be put into the public domain; regulatory approvals will be investigated for the new devices developed.
- Responsible innovation: The project aims to follow the AREA framework and the workpackage (WP1) associated with impact activities will be guided by it.
- User engagement: In this project, we will engage end-users (interventionalists), patients, and businesses.

The planned impact activities of the project include:
- Knowledge and Academic Impact: Knowledge transfer and clinical translation are major focuses for this project and will involve all three industrial project partners.
- Clinical Impact: The project will have significant clinical impact through safer, more efficient catheter intervention. For clinical and patient engagement, end-user workshops are planned and vascular disease charities will be contacted, respectively.
- Commercial Exploitation and Economic Benefit: It is expected that the results of the project will have significant commercial impact and all project partners will be involved with regulatory issues investigation and determination of exploitation routes for the research outputs. The research is expected to benefit the economy by providing safer and more efficient catheter interventions, thus saving the NHS procedural time and reducing the need for repeat interventions.
- People Development: We will actively encourage early career researchers to lead new concept generation with direct clinical/industrial interaction. Secondment to industrial collaborators will be arranged and the team encouraged to lead public dissemination activities. People and skills development is a major agenda of this project.
- Communication and Engagement: Communication to the public and patients will be through conferences, open days, charities and a project website.

The impact of the proposed project will be demonstrated through extensive preclinical validation. Future uptake by the NHS will provide clinicians with data that provides the basis for changing clinical practice to improve patient outcomes and quality of life. Through clinical evidence, the project team will also actively promote public awareness of our research and develop a shared vision for future minimally invasive intervention.
 
Description The research produced through this award addressed the challenges clinicians face in the operating theatre while treating patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) such as strokes and congenital heart defects, using minimally invasive endovascular techniques. One of these challenges includes using X-ray fluoroscopy imaging to help clinicians see and maneuver diagnostic and therapeutic flexible instruments (e.g., catheters) through the patient's vasculature to reach a targeted diseased vessel. Although accessible, cost-effective, and has high spatial and temporal resolutions, X-ray fluoroscopy (without contrast agents) produces poor soft-tissue contrast, making visualization of the anatomy and positioning of instruments difficult. This, in turn, prolongs the procedure and increases the risk of complications and exposure of medical personnel and patients (especially paediatrics) to ionizing X-ray radiation, which is linked to a non-negligible risk of developing a solid tumor. Moreover, interventionalists are also prone to orthopedic injuries that stem from the necessary heavy equipment they are forced to wear (e.g., lead aprons). Our team designed, fabricated, and integrated a compact, ergonomic and low-cost surgical robot platform that: (1) minimizes and possibly eliminates radiation exposure, (2) improves the precision, safety, access, and comfort of endovascular interventions, and (3) paves the way for endovascular interventions under a radiation-free imaging modality, i.e., magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The platform comprises two main elements: a metal-free, pneumatically actuated bedside robot that allows for device (catheter and guidewire) manipulation within the patient and a haptic device that clinicians use to remotely and precisely control the robot/devices away from the X-ray source. Since the robot is made of non-metallic and non-conductive materials, it can be deployed and controlled within MR environments. This is where this technology stands out; it mitigates the side effects of "gold standard" fluoroscopy-guided endovascular interventions and offers unprecedented opportunities within a radiation-free imaging environment that has revolutionized diagnostic medicine, visualization of soft tissue, and 3D evaluations of pathology and function across the body.
Exploitation Route The outcomes of this funding can be taken forward by companies in the healthcare sector to further develop, scale and commercialise the robotic catheterisation platform. Other sectors of the industry (e.g. biotechnology, chemical engineering) could potentially make use of the developed plastic-based technology to create actuators that are safe to use in magnetic environments.
Sectors Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology
URL https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/195513/versatile-robotic-platform-fluoroscopy-mri-guided-endovascular/
 
Description White paper on Devices for Endovascular Interventions in collaboration with EPSRC-NIHR HTC Partnership
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
Impact In this report, the use of the endovascular approach for delivering new therapies including focused energy, drugs, or new gene and cell therapy is also discussed. It further outlines translational challenges with recommendations for technical developments, regulatory considerations, funding, market access and better collaboration between the clinical and engineering communities.
URL https://www.nihr.ac.uk/news-and-events/documents/cardio_report_2017.pdf
 
Description Hansel Medical 
Organisation Hansen Medical, Inc
Country United States 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Expertise on machine learning, skills assessment and cooperative control. Expertise on vascular interventions.
Collaborator Contribution Supporting the mechatronic design and control of the robot.
Impact This is a multi-disciplinary collaboration with members from our team consisting of engineers and clinicians. No outputs yet.
Start Year 2017
 
Description Intel 
Organisation Intel Corporation
Country United States 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Expertise on real-time shape instantiation and robot navigation.
Collaborator Contribution Support with algorithm development, software libraries, and regulatory pathways considerations.
Impact No outputs yet.
Start Year 2017
 
Description Kuka 
Organisation KUKA Robotics
Country Germany 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Expertise with robotic control with perspective adaptation and learning of complex tasks. Sensing and haptic feedback.
Collaborator Contribution Assistance with open source development with consideration of generic applicability of the technology and translating technology to other robotic applications.
Impact No outputs yet.
Start Year 2017
 
Title A DEVICE 
Description A system comprising a platform assembly comprising a master platform and a slave platform, both the master platform and the slave platform being moveable, the platform assembly further comprising a force feedback control arrangement for applying a force to the master platform in response to a force exerted on a slave device mounted on the platform. 
IP Reference WO2014053859 
Protection Patent application published
Year Protection Granted 2014
Licensed No
Impact This new approach has led to new research projects and a number of publications. A new master device is being developed for enabling clinical studies.
 
Title MRI-safe Master-Slave Robot for Robot-Assisted Endovascular Intervention - 3rd iteration 
Description Master-Slave robot to perform robot assisted endovascular interventions. This robot is MRI-compatible. 
Type Support Tool - For Medical Intervention
Current Stage Of Development Refinement. Non-clinical
Year Development Stage Completed 2019
Development Status Under active development/distribution
Impact This robotic platform augments the surgical capabilities through motion scaling and intuitive control. It is compact, ergonomic and low-cost. It's completely 3D printed and MRI-compatible. It allows the manipulation of commercially available instruments (catheters and guidewires). 
 
Title Master Manipulator for Robot-Assisted Endovascular Intervention 
Description This is a compact hands on robotic manipulator to perform robot-assisted endovascular interventions. 
Type Support Tool - For Medical Intervention
Current Stage Of Development Initial development
Year Development Stage Completed 2018
Development Status Under active development/distribution
Impact Robot-assistance and force feedback are provided for both linear (push-pull) and rotational (twist) manoeuvers of the catheter/guidewire. By mimicking the manipulation of a manual catheter/guidewire, it allows for more intuitive control of the robotic catheter/guidewire while the skills of the operator are retained and enhanced with motion scaling and haptic feedback. 
 
Title Master Manipulator for Robot-Assisted Endovascular Intervention - 2nd iteration 
Description Second prototype of our compact hands on robotic manipulator to perform robot-assisted endovascular interventions. 
Type Support Tool - For Medical Intervention
Current Stage Of Development Refinement. Non-clinical
Year Development Stage Completed 2019
Development Status Under active development/distribution
Impact Robot-assistance and force feedback are provided for both linear (push-pull) and rotational (twist) manoeuvers of the catheter/guidewire. By mimicking the manipulation of a manual catheter/guidewire, it allows for more intuitive control of the robotic catheter/guidewire while the skills of the operator are retained and enhanced with motion scaling and haptic feedback. Ergonomics, sensing, and control strategy have been improved with respect to the previous prototype. 
 
Title Slave Robot for Robot-Assisted Endovascular Intervention 
Description Slave robot to perform robot assisted endovascular interventions. This device works in conjunction with a robotic master manipulator (MM) to manipulate commercially available catheters/guidewires. It consists of two servomotors that can push, pull and twist the catheter/guidewire based on the motion commands generated by the surgeon manipulating the MM. The catheter/guidewire is translated by a pair of friction wheels that are coupled to one of the servomotors. The steering is achieved by rotating the frame that holds the catheter/guidewire. 
Type Support Tool - For Medical Intervention
Current Stage Of Development Initial development
Year Development Stage Completed 2017
Development Status Under active development/distribution
Impact This device, in conjunction with the MM, augment the surgical capabilities through motion scaling and intuitive control. It is compact, ergonomic and low-cost. It allows the manipulation of commercially available instruments (catheters and guidewires). 
 
Title Slave Robot for Robot-Assisted Endovascular Intervention - 2nd iteration 
Description Slave robot to perform robot assisted endovascular interventions. This device works in conjunction with a robotic master manipulator (MM) to manipulate commercially available catheters/guidewires. It consists of two servomotors that can push, pull and twist the catheter/guidewire based on the motion commands generated by the surgeon manipulating the MM. The catheter/guidewire is translated by a pair of friction wheels that are coupled to one of the servomotors. The steering is achieved by rotating the frame that holds the catheter/guidewire. This prototype is completely 3D-printed - including the motors - and actuated through air compressed. This robot is MRI-compatible. 
Type Support Tool - For Medical Intervention
Current Stage Of Development Refinement. Non-clinical
Year Development Stage Completed 2019
Development Status Under active development/distribution
Impact This device, in conjunction with the MM, augment the surgical capabilities through motion scaling and intuitive control. It is compact, ergonomic and low-cost. It's completely 3D printed and MRI-compatible. It allows the manipulation of commercially available instruments (catheters and guidewires). 
 
Title A Learning-Based System for Collaborative Robot-Assisted Endovascular Procedures 
Description This is a platform that automates robot-assisted endovascular procedures. Motion models of endovascular instruments are trained from expert surgeons' demonstrations. The models are used to generate trajectories for the proposed robot to execute. Further improvements involve using trajectory transfer algorithm to adapt the models to different anatomies, as well as implementing reinforcement learning for optimization, adapt to flow conditions, different anatomies and tasks. 
Type Of Technology New/Improved Technique/Technology 
Year Produced 2018 
Impact Shared or supervised autonomy of endovascular procedures has the potential to significantly reduce the radiation doses and cognitive workloads to the operator. Implementing machine learning and 3D imaging technologies enhances the precision of the catheter motion, and shorten the procedure length, thus reducing the risks of complications. Improvements to previous works include adaptation of new anatomies, optimizing trajectories for avoiding unwanted contacts to endothelial walls, and adaptation of non-linear flow conditions. 
 
Title A Training Platform for Endovascular Intervention 
Description This is a training platform that actively teaches the novice operator to perform a cannulation task. Objective metrics were developed from motion models of expert surgeons, and they were used to evaluate the performance of the novices in real-time. A novel haptic device was developed to assist the novices through vibro-tactile feedbacks. It informs the operator on the correct motion gesture through haptic stimuli. 
Type Of Technology New/Improved Technique/Technology 
Year Produced 2017 
Impact There is a growing interest in developing virtual reality platform for training endovascular skills, because the success of the surgery hugely depends on the technical skills of the operator. However, there is no well-known metrics for evaluating the surgical performance. This training platform uses expert surgeons models as a benchmark, and to assist and evaluate the behaviours of novices in real-time. The proposed haptic device is intuitive and mimics the natural manipulation through simulating directional feedbacks. The device is un-grounded and can be easily affixed to a conventional catheter. 
 
Title AI-powered Automation System for Collaborative Robot-Assisted Endovascular Procedures 
Description This is an AI-powered platform that automates robot-assisted endovascular procedures. Surgical task policies of endovascular procedures are trained from expert surgeons' demonstrations through imitation learning. The policies are used to execute the specific tasks by the customized robotic system under human supervision. Further improvements involve using a reinforcement learning algorithm to optimize the trained polices, hence achieving safer task execution, as well as transferring to different endovascular procedures, patient models and dynamic conditions. 
Type Of Technology New/Improved Technique/Technology 
Year Produced 2018 
Impact Shared or supervised autonomy of endovascular procedures has the potential to significantly reduce the radiation doses and cognitive workloads to the operator. Implementing machine learning and 3D imaging technologies enhance the precision of the catheter motion, and shorten the procedure length, thus reducing the risks of complications. Improvements to previous works include the adaptation of new anatomies, optimizing trajectories for avoiding unwanted contacts to endothelial walls, and adaptation of non-linear flow conditions. 
 
Title End-to-End Real-time Catheter Segmentation with Optical Flow-Guided Warping during Endovascular Intervention 
Description Automatic segmentation of the entire catheter in real-time 
Type Of Technology New/Improved Technique/Technology 
Year Produced 2019 
Impact This algorithm has the potential of improving the tracking of endovasculat instruyments; used in conjuction with our robotic platform, it paves the way to a better vision-based rendering of contact forces (instrument-anatomy) in endovascular procedures. 
 
Title Navigation System with Dynamic Active Constraints for Robot-Assisted Endovascular procedures 
Description This is a navigation system for endovascular interventions that provides haptic feedback based on visual information. Dynamic active constraints with safety margins adaptively enforced in real-time to constrain the catheter motion are developed to provide vision-based haptic feedback. Dynamic motion tracking of both the vessel walls as well as their interaction with the catheter tip. 
Type Of Technology New/Improved Technique/Technology 
Year Produced 2018 
Impact Vision-based haptic feedback can improve the effectiveness, precision, and safety of robot-assisted endovascular procedures. Precise manoeuvers can be naturally performed using a robotic manipulator, whilst the navigation system provides vision-based haptic feedback. Unlike previous work reported in literature dynamic motion tracking of both the vessel walls the catheter tip is incorporated to create dynamic active constraints and minimize potential injury to the endothelial walls. 
 
Title Navigation System with Dynamic Active Constraints for Robot-Assisted Endovascular procedures - 2nd iteration 
Description This is a navigation system for endovascular interventions that provides haptic feedback based on visual information. Dynamic active constraints with safety margins adaptively enforced in real-time to constrain the catheter motion are developed to provide vision-based haptic feedback. Dynamic motion tracking of both the vessel walls as well as their interaction with the catheter tip. This second iteration of the software can now be used with real-time fluoroscopic images. 
Type Of Technology New/Improved Technique/Technology 
Year Produced 2019 
Impact Vision-based haptic feedback can improve the effectiveness, precision, and safety of robot-assisted endovascular procedures. Precise manoeuvers can be naturally performed using a robotic manipulator, whilst the navigation system provides vision-based haptic feedback. Unlike previous work reported in literature dynamic motion tracking of both the vessel walls the catheter tip is incorporated to create dynamic active constraints and minimize potential injury to the endothelial walls. This can be used with real-time fluoroscopic images in a real clinical environment. 
 
Title Surgical Simulator for Robot-Assisted Endovascular Procedures 
Description We have developed a novel platform to provide 3D vision-based haptic guidance during robot-assisted endovascular procedures, with the goal of improving surgical performance and safety. This new technology is based on the integration of a robotic haptic manipulator and 3D navigation. Patient-specific CT images are used to generate 3D models of the vasculature. The surgeon controls the catheter using our robotic manipulator and the relative positions between the catheter and the surrounding patient anatomy is used to generate haptic guidance for the surgeon, providing a heightened awareness of catheter position within the 3D patient anatomy. 
Type Of Technology New/Improved Technique/Technology 
Year Produced 2019 
Impact Unlike previous work in the literature (which relies on 2D images), we have introduced 3D dynamic guidance. 
 
Description 2x Talks within the IROS Conference Nov19 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Oral presentation of the conference paper "Toward a Versatile Robotic Platform for Fluoroscopy and MRI-Guided Endovascular Interventions: A Pre-Clinical Study" at the IROS conference in Macau, China. November 2019

Oral presentation of the conference paper "Haptic Guidance for Robot-Assisted Endovascular Procedures: Implementation and Evaluation on Surgical Simulator" at the IROS conference in Macau, China. November 2019
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description CathBot Demo @ CRAS + SPIGC 2019, Genoa, Italy, MAR19 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Demo of our robotic system.
Demo Title: Robot-Assisted Endovascular Intervention: The CathBot System
Short description: The Hamlyn Centre is developing the CathBot system, a new robotic platform for endovascular surgery incorporating novel device designs with improved human-robot control. The CathBot system aims to address some of the current clinical challenges (complex catheter manipulation, limited intra-operative navigation) with the added benefit of allowing the operator to remotely control and manipulate devices, thus avoiding exposure to X-ray radiation.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.cras-eu.org/
 
Description Endoluminal Intervention Workshop @ Hamlyn Symposium 2018 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact As Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) is being adopted in a wide range of surgical specialties, there is a convergence of endoluminal and endoscopic therapies for different surgical specialities. For the gastrointestinal tract, for example, there is an increasing need to deploy surgical instruments and deliver therapeutic agents to small ductal systems for diagnosing and treating diseases. For the respiratory system, endobronchial procedures are increasingly used for interventions such as thermoplasty, valve placement for lung volume reduction, and locating peripheral nodules for cancer biopsy. For minimally invasive cardiovascular intervention, the use of the endovascular approach has been extended beyond cardiac ablation, angioplasty and stenting to complex aneurysm repair and valve replacement. Technically, different solutions have been proposed for endoluminal intervention. Continuum robotics such as concentric tubes, multi-backbone and soft structures have evolved from a niche area to one that has been extensively researched. The structure and flexibility of continuum robots has generated interest among clinicians in potential medical applications. The purpose of this workshop is to address clinical opportunities, technical requirements and regulatory challenges for translating continuum robotics to practical clinical use. It is designed an interactive workshop between researchers, engineers and clinicians to brainstorm about the different areas and identify barriers to using continuum robots in a clinical setting. The result of the workshop will be to create a list of technical and clinical challenges that need to be resolved while also serving to build bridges between the clinical, engineering and regulatory communities.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://hamlyn.doc.ic.ac.uk/hsmr/endoluminal-intervention
 
Description Endovascular Intervention Workshop @ Hamlyn Symposium 2019 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Vascular diseases are the most common precursors to ischemic heart disease and stroke, which are two of the leading causes of death worldwide. Endovascular intervention is a minimally invasive surgical approach to treat such diseases. Compared to open surgery, it has the advantages of faster recovery, reduced need for general anaesthesia, reduced blood loss and significantly lower mortality.

The use of the endovascular approach has been extended beyond cardiac ablation, angioplasty and stenting to complex aneurysm repair, valve replacement, and delivery of new therapies. Current endovascular approaches are limited by excessive exposure to radiation, a lack of 3D mapping, as well as lost haptic feedbacks. Technically, different solutions have been proposed for endovascular intervention, including a growing interest in robotic steerable catheter technology which brought benefits such as improved precision and stability, reduced radiation doses, improved comfort and access to difficult and tortuous anatomy.

The purpose of this workshop is to address clinical opportunities, technical requirements and regulatory challenges for translating effectively robot-assisted endovascular intervention to practical clinical use. The workshop aims to gather together researchers, engineers and clinicians from both academia and industry to brainstorm and identify new potential applications and barriers for robotic assistance in endovascular intervention. The goal of the workshop will be to build bridges between academia and industry to closely work together in identifying technical, clinical and translational challenges that need to be solved.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.ukras.org/hamlyn/workshops/endovascular-intervention/
 
Description Former Prime Minister Tony Blair Visit 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The former Prime Minister Tony Blair visited Imperial College and toured the Hamlyn Centre for Robotics, viewing demonstrations of surgical robots, 3D printed microrobotic tools and augmented reality technology for medical imaging.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/187036/former-pm-supports-lord-darzi-report/
 
Description Friends of Imperial Visit 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Supporters
Results and Impact The Hamlyn Centre participated in the programme of "Friends of Imperial Visit" as one of visit destinations. Our research teams demonstrated the latest research result to the "Friends of Imperial Visit" participants and answered their questions regarding the works.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.friendsofimperial.org.uk/Media/Documents/Current_Programme.pdf
 
Description Hamlyn Centre Official Twitter 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The Hamlyn Centre Official Twitter account aims to reach out all types of audiences for demonstrating our research progress and result, promoting our events and sharing relevant information.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014,2015,2016,2017,2018,2019
URL https://twitter.com/ICLHamlynRobots
 
Description Hamlyn Winter School on Surgical Imaging and Vision 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact The Winter School focuses on both technical and clinical aspects of Surgical Imaging and Vision, with invited lectures, hands-on demonstrations, workshops, and mini-projects.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://hamlyn.doc.ic.ac.uk/winterschool/
 
Description Hamlyn Winter School on Surgical Imaging and Vision 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact The Winter School focuses on both technical and clinical aspects of Surgical Imaging and Vision, with invited lectures, hands-on demonstrations, workshops, and mini-projects.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://hamlyn.doc.ic.ac.uk/winterschool/
 
Description Hamlyn Winter School on Surgical Imaging and Vision 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The Hamlyn Winter School focuses on both the technical and clinical aspects of Surgical Imaging and Vision. Through invited lectures, hands-on demonstrations, workshops, and mini-projects, the purpose of our winter school is to help researchers familiarise with the cutting edge research of this rapidly expanding field covering key areas of:

Fundamentals and current state-of-the-art in surgical imaging;
Vision algorithms for tracking, 3D scene reconstruction and surgical navigation;
Intra-operative registration and retargeting;
Multi-modal image fusion and real-time augmented reality systems based on inverse realism;
Robot assisted large area microscopic imaging and mosaicing;
Dynamic active constraints with real-time vision;
Vision enabled surgical robot design and miniaturisation.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018,2019
URL https://www.imperial.ac.uk/hamlyn-centre/news-and-events/hamlyn-winter-school-on-surgical-imaging-an...
 
Description Interviews with Surgeons and Companies - Clinical requirement analysis 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Clinical requirement analysis for the system we are developing have been gathered through 42 interviews with vascular surgeons, and companies. Interviews have been conducted in person during the Charing Cross Symposium 2016 (CX Symposium) 24-27 April June and Hamlyn Symposium 2016 25-28 June 2016, or over the telephone.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description Invited Talk within the 10th Workshop on Biomedical Engineering - Lisbon - APR18 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Undergraduate students
Results and Impact Talk on about "Rise of the Surgical Robots: Using Image-Guidance and Robotic Assistance to Support the Surgical Team"
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Invited Talk- Prof Itaru Kitahara: 3D-CG Virtual Surgical Operation in University of Tsukuba 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Our senior research fellow Dr Matina Giannarou invited Prof. Itaru Kitahara to share the experience about "3D-CG Virtual Surgical Operation in University of Tsukuba" with our researchers in the Hamlyn Centre. Prof. Itaru Kitahara is leading the Virtual Surgery research project at the University of Tsukuba, Japan and his research focuses on Computer Vision and Mixed Reality. During the talk, he not only introduced "3D CG Virtual Surgery", which aims to realise a navigation system of surgical operation using Computer Vision and AR/VR techniques, but also presented the collaboration between their research team and the medical doctors in our university regarding 3D CG Virtual Surgery.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://twitter.com/ICLHamlynRobots/status/1102943972790542336
 
Description Invited Talk- Prof Jackrit Suthakorn: the past, present and future of the BART LAB 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Prof Jackrit Suthakorn, the BART LAB executive director and the department chair of Department of Biomedical Engineering at Mahidol University, visited the Hamlyn Centre on Monday 25th January 2019. He gave a talk regarding the development of the BART LAB as well as their current research areas and progress in robotics for extreme environment as well as rehabilitation to the Hamlyn Centre researchers and members.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Machine Learning, Robotics and Sensor Networks Summer School 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Undergraduate students
Results and Impact The Summer School focuses on both technical and clinical aspects of machine learning, vision, and robotics, with lectures, hands-on demonstrations, workshops, and mini-projects.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Minister of State for Immigration Caroline Nokes MP and Cancer Research UK Visit 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Caroline Nokes MP, Minister of State for Immigration, visited Imperial in October 2018 and took a tour of the Hamlyn Centre for Robotic Surgery. She was joined by representatives of Cancer Research UK and our college president Alice Gast. During the visit, Caroline Nokes was shown some of our latest robot technology in medicine, developments which have enabled healthcare professionals to conduct smarter operations with higher precision.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/188691/immigration-minister-sees-benefits-internationalism-imperial/
 
Description Presentation at a conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Presenting paper "End-to-End Real-time Catheter Segmentation with Optical Flow-Guided Warping during Endovascular Intervention" at ICRA 2020
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Presentation at a conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Presenting paper "Collaborative Robot-Assisted Endovascular Catheterization with Generative Adversarial Imitation Learning" at ICRA 2020.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Professor Daniel Elson: Lighting Up The Operating Theatre 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Professor Daniel Elson, our Hamlyn Centre Director of Studies, talked through a career that has mirrored the typical innovation translation pathway - from a PhD in laser physics, and time spent in the Faculty of Engineering developing imaging tools for key hole surgery, a move to the Division of Surgery saw him work directly with surgeons to begin translating those technologies into image guidance tools. He discussed progress made developing diagnostic methods and technologies, and the value of adopting a clinical, rather than purely technological driven, approach to innovation and problem solving, working with surgeons to identify challenges today and tomorrow.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOQz7HufVaQ&feature=youtu.be
 
Description Robotics & Artificial Intelligence Summer School 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Undergraduate students
Results and Impact The Summer School focuses on both technical and clinical aspects of AI and robotics, with lectures, hands-on demonstrations, workshops, and mini-projects.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description School Robot Challenge 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The challenge will be run jointly by any interested UK-RAS partner universities, and is aimed at teams of schoolchildren of ages up to 16 (year 11). It will be published in the UK-RAS Robotics Week 2018 brochure and on the website, and will be distributed via each participating university's local schools' network.

The challenge will consist of 2 separate activities: the first involves schools working independently to develop and then submit a design(s) for a robot system to help older people. The deadline for submissions for this activity is 18/05/2018.

The best entries will then be chosen, with one winning team selected by each participating university (the proximity of school to university may or may not influence the decision), which will then invite that team to a special one-day event on 26/06/2018 (that is, the Tuesday of UK Robotics Week). After a tour of the robot labs, the teams will be set another similar care-themed challenge using whatever basic, programmable robotics equipment is to hand (e.g., Lego Mindstorms - there is no requirement for the same equipment to be used at each university). This activity will last from 10.30am until 3.30pm with a working lunch provided, and if possible live streaming of video from the other participating sites (also shown on the UK-RAS website). The goal of each team will be to produce a smartphone video of no longer than 1 minute's duration that describes the problem, the concept and design of their suggested solution, and - hopefully - shows their solution in action.

The videos will be uploaded to YouTube or similar. A panel of judges - one from each participating university - will view each of the videos, and then confer to select an overall winning team. (Some of) the winning team will then be invited to the UK Robotics Week Showcase event on Thursday 21st June, where they will receive a prize (budget permitting) on behalf of their school.

The suggested text publicising the challenge is below. (Note that it is not intended to be as explicit as the above text to allow for some flexibility in the format to take into account the number and quality of submissions, budget available, participating universities, etc., and all dates are subject to confirmation.)


The UK-RAS Health and Social Care Challenge 2018

We invite schools to submit their designs for a robotic system that addresses the challenge of how to help older people stay healthy and live independent lives. Submissions should be the work of teams of up to 8 children aged 16 or under. Entries can be in any format, should be no longer than 1000 words (or equivalent) in length, and each school may submit an unlimited number of entries.

The closing date for submissions is Friday 18th May. The judging panel will then select the best entries, with submissions being judged according to their usefulness, practicality and creativity. The winning teams will be invited to a special one-day event on Tuesday 26th June at their nearest UK-RAS University, during which they will visit our robotics facilities to learn more about our research, and then get to develop and test their own robots.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://hamlyn.doc.ic.ac.uk/uk-ras/events/school-robot-challenge
 
Description School Robot Challenge at Imperial Festival 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact An interactive activity was provided at the Imperial Festival 2017, based on the School Robot Challenge organised by the Hamlyn Centre and the UK-RAS Network. This activity encouraged schoolchildren to be inspired by robotics and nature and create their own digital robotic insect. The children drew a robotic insect on paper and were then shown how to turn it into a 3D computer model.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://hamlyn.doc.ic.ac.uk/uk-ras/robotics-week-2018
 
Description Speciality Cluster Hub Workshop on Medical Devices for Endovascular Interventions 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Organised the "Speciality Cluster Hub Workshop on Medical Devices for Endovascular Interventions" - Imperial College London, 21 April 2016.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description Surgical Imaging Workshop at Hamlyn Symposium 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The Surgical Imaging Workshop at the Hamlyn Symposium in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 brought together clinicians, computer scientists and engineers from academia and industry to share the latest developments in the fields of surgical imaging, image guidance and
augmented reality in surgery. The scope was broad, covering imaging technologies (including clinical
systems and applications) as well as the technical aspects of registration, modelling and visualisation.
Through the development and fusion of imaging modalities, and the enhancement of the surgeon's
sensory experience, participants in this exciting area of research hope to transform surgical practice.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2012,2013,2014,2015,2016
URL http://www.hamlyn-robotics.org/
 
Description Surgical Robot Challenge 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact The aim of this challenge is to exploit the unique expertise of the consortium in medical robotics to develop low-cost robot-assisted surgical and diagnostic devices that can benefit the NHS as well as be used as solutions for global health.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://hamlyn.doc.ic.ac.uk/hsmr/events/surgical-robot-challenge-2017
 
Description Talk within the CURAC Conference in Germany Sep 2019 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Oral presentation of the conference paper "Towards MR-Safe Endovascular Robotics" at the CURAC conference in Reutlingen, Germany, September 2019
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Talk within the IROS Conference Oct 2018 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Oral presentation of the conference paper "Haptic Feedback and Dynamic Active Constraints for Robot-Assisted Endovascular Catheterization" at the IROS conference in Madrid, Spain. October 2018
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.iros2018.org/
 
Description Talk within the IROS Conference Oct 2018 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Oral presentation of the conference paper "Trajectory Optimization of Robot-Assisted Endovascular Catheterization with Reinforcement Learning" at the IROS conference in Madrid, Spain. October 2018
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.iros2018.org/
 
Description Talk within the Robotic Catheters Workshop @ Hamlyn Symposium 2017 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Oral presentation of the paper "A Learning Based Training and Skill Assessment Platform with Haptic Guidance for Endovascular Catheterization" within the Robotic Catheters Workshop held in conjunction with the Hamlyn Symposium 2017 , 25 June 2017
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Talk within the UK-RAS Network Conference Dec 2017 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Oral presentation of the conference paper "Learning-based Robotic Task Planning for Endovascular Catheterization" at the UK-RAS Network in Bristol, UK. December 2017
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description The Hamlyn Centre Christmas Showcase 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Supporters
Results and Impact The Hamlyn Christmas Showcase is an event that showcased the latest research outputs form our research teams at the Hamlyn Centre. Every year we invite our collaborators and affiliates to participate this event in order to demonstrate our research findings and to discuss potential further collaboration.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016,2017,2018,2019
URL https://twitter.com/ICLHamlynRobots/status/1073577685488754688
 
Description The Hamlyn Centre Official Website 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The Hamlyn Centre Official website aims to engage with all types of audiences for introducing our centre purpose and structure as well as our research areas and environment. On the website, we also constantly update job opportunities, event information and News from our research teams as well as the Imperial College.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018,2019
URL https://www.imperial.ac.uk/hamlyn-centre/
 
Description The Hamlyn Symposium 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics (HSMR) provides an annual forum for surgeons and engineers from across the globe, to network and explore the latest developments in medical robotics. The Symposium has been successfully conducted for the past 11 years and has become a leading international conference on medical robotics, current clinical practice and emerging technologies in robotic surgery. Every year researchers, clinicians and engineers are invited to submit papers on a range of topics covering clinical specialities in Urology, Cardiac Surgery, Neuro Surgery, Thoracic Surgery, General Surgery, Gynaecology, ENT, Orthopaedic and Paediatric Surgery. The Hamlyn Symposium is composed of a series of workshops on various clinical and technical topics and the main conference with the participants from leading medical, science and technology institutions.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018,2019
URL https://www.ukras.org/hamlyn/
 
Description UK Robotics Week 2017 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Acting autonomously or in close collaboration with humans, Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) have a broad range of new and established applications. As the underlying technologies are further developed and translated from laboratory settings to real-world applications, RAS is playing an increasingly important role in the UK's economy and it's future growth.

The UK-RAS Network was established with the mission to provide academic leadership, expand collaboration with industry and integrate and coordinate activities at the EPSRC funded RAS capital facilities, Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) and partner universities across the UK.

We are delighted with last year's inaugural UK Robotics Week and proud to build on its success with this year's event. The UK Robotics Week provides a spotlight on the UK's technology leadership in RAS, and engages the nation's schools, colleges and universities in developing the digital skills needed to drive the UK's future economy.

The UK Robotics Week also acts as a forum for discussion of technological, commercial, legal, ethical and social aspects of robotics. The wide range of events covered, from symposia, workshops, conferences, festivals, competitions and hackathons, contribute to a thriving programme across the country. We endeavour to provide promotion to other robotics related events in the calendar and aim to ensure robotics remains high on the government's agenda as one of the transformative technologies of the present and future.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://hamlyn.doc.ic.ac.uk/roboticsweek2017/welcome
 
Description Workshop in the Hamlyn Symposium: Endovascular Intervention 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Vascular diseases are the most common precursors to ischemic heart disease and stroke, which are two of the leading causes of death worldwide. Endovascular intervention is a minimally invasive surgical approach to treat such diseases. Compared to open surgery, it has the advantages of faster recovery, reduced need for general anaesthesia, reduced blood loss and significantly lower mortality.

The use of the endovascular approach has been extended beyond cardiac ablation, angioplasty and stenting to complex aneurysm repair, valve replacement, and delivery of new therapies. Current endovascular approaches are limited by excessive exposure to radiation, a lack of 3D mapping, as well as lost haptic feedbacks. Technically, different solutions have been proposed for endovascular intervention, including a growing interest in robotic steerable catheter technology which brought benefits such as improved precision and stability, reduced radiation doses, improved comfort and access to difficult and tortuous anatomy.

The purpose of this workshop is to address clinical opportunities, technical requirements and regulatory challenges for translating effectively robot-assisted endovascular intervention to practical clinical use. The workshop aims to gather together researchers, engineers and clinicians from both academia and industry to brainstorm and identify new potential applications and barriers for robotic assistance in endovascular intervention. The goal of the workshop will be to build bridges between academia and industry to closely work together in identifying technical, clinical and translational challenges that need to be solved.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018,2019
URL https://www.ukras.org/hamlyn/workshops/endovascular-intervention/
 
Description Workshop on Human-Robot Interactions Applied to Health 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact As part of the Hamlyn Symposium 10th anniversary on Medical Robotics, a workshop was run. This workshop was for academics, industry and show casing the latest technologies for medical robotics and latest research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://www.dropbox.com/s/5uobgz4tjq7c1ue/HSMR17_programme-FINAL.pdf?dl=0
 
Description Workshop on Micro-Robotics and Micro-Fabrication 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact As part of the Hamlyn Symposium 10th anniversary on Medical Robotics, a workshop was run. This workshop was for academics, industry and show casing the latest technologies for medical robotics and latest research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://www.dropbox.com/s/5uobgz4tjq7c1ue/HSMR17_programme-FINAL.pdf?dl=0
 
Description Workshop on Robotic Catheters 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact As part of the Hamlyn Symposium 10th anniversary on Medical Robotics, a workshop was run. This workshop was for academics, industry and show casing the latest technologies for medical robotics and latest research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://www.dropbox.com/s/5uobgz4tjq7c1ue/HSMR17_programme-FINAL.pdf?dl=0
 
Description Workshop on Surgical Work?ow and Process Modelling 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact As part of the Hamlyn Symposium 10th anniversary on Medical Robotics, a workshop was run. This workshop was for academics, industry and show casing the latest technologies for medical robotics and latest research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://www.dropbox.com/s/5uobgz4tjq7c1ue/HSMR17_programme-FINAL.pdf?dl=0