Development of Master-Slave System with Force-Rate Control for Interventional Radiology

The objective of this study is to develop a master-slave system for a catheter-guided operation, which is performed by using radiology, through the vascular system. When the master-slave system is used, the surgeon is not exposed to x-rays during the operation. The master tool is managed by an operator away from the slave tool, which is near the patient. The system must provide a realistic picture to the surgeon, particularly in term of force information because this operation is performed by observing three-dimensional fields on a two-dimensional monitor. In this paper, we describe the development of a master slave system that involves the use of forcerate control for guiding the catheter without using force sensors. The master tool has a force-display function. This system can be controlled by force and velocity controlling; hence, this system realized an innovative mechanism and algorism. Finally, the preliminary experiment indicated that the new control method was effective. Further, the force display was stable and achieved fast response.