Surgical robotics


Robotics enables surgery to be less invasive and/or to enhance the performance of the surgeon. In minimally invasive surgery (MIS) for instance, robotics can improve the dexterity of conventional instruments, which is restricted by the insertion ports, by adding intra-cavity degrees of freedom. It can also provide the surgeon with augmented visual and haptic inputs. In open surgery, robotics makes it possible to use in real time pre-operative and per-operative image data to improve precision and reproducibility when cutting, drilling, milling bones, to locate accurately and remove tumours. In both cases, as in other surgical specialities, robotics allows the surgeon to perform more precise, reproducible and dextrous motion. It is also a promising solution to minimize his/her fatigue and to restrict his/her exposition to radiation. For the patient, robotics surgery may result in less risk, pain and discomfort, as well as a shorter recovery time. These benefits explain the increasing research efforts made all over the world since the early 90's.

Surgical robotics requires great skills in many engineering fields as the integration of robots in the operating room is technically difficult. It induces new problems such as safety, man-machine cooperation, real time sensing and processing, mechanical design, force and vision-based control. However, it is very promising as a mean to improve conventional surgical procedures, for example in neurosurgery and orthopedics, as well as providing innovative new ones in micro-surgery, image-guided therapy, MIS and Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES).

The highly interdisciplinary nature of surgical robotics requires close cooperation between medical staff and researchers in mechanics, computer sciences, control and electrical engineering. This cooperation has resulted in many prototypes for a wide variety of surgical procedures. A few robotics systems are yet available on a commercial basis and have entered the operating room namely in neurosurgery, orthopedics and MIS.

Depending on the application, surgical robotics gets more or less deeply into the following fields: multi-modal information processing; modelling of rigid and deformable anatomical parts; pre-surgical planning and simulation of robotic surgery; design and control of guiding systems for assistance of the surgeon gesture. During the Summer school, these fields will be addressed by surgeons and researchers working in leading hospitals and labs. They will be completed by engineers who will give insight into practical integration problems.

The courses are addressed to PhD students, post-docs and researchers already involved in the area or interested by the new challenges of such an emerging area interconnecting technology and surgery. Basic background in mechanical, computer science, control and electrical engineering is recommended.


This Summer School follows six previous editions held in Montpellier on a biennial basis since 2003:

http://2013.sssr.fr
http://2011.sssr.fr
http://www.lirmm.fr/UEE09
http://www.lirmm.fr/UEE07
http://www.lirmm.fr/UEE05
http://www.lirmm.fr/manifs/UEE/accueil.htm


Content


The lectures will be organized in four parts:

Fundamental aspects of surgical robotics (2 days) : medical imaging, modelling, control, design and safety, planning and registration, haptics;

Applications (2 days): technical point of view (from design to experiment), and surgical point of view (orthopedics, urology and abdominal surgery);

Industrial forum (1 day) : with exhibition of equipments, presentations of applications, and demonstrations; visit of the LIRMM facilities;

Future trends (1 day): perspectives in small size robots and mechatronic devices for surgery and therapy; perspectives in NOTES.

Time will be reserved for the participants to present their own research work.


Invited lecturers


Chosen among the most well-known experts worldwide, the lecturers have a significant theoretical and practical background in Surgical Robotics. They represent the clinical, scientific and engineering communities:

Paolo Dario, Arianna Menciassi, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy
Jaydev Desai, University of Maryland, USA
Christian Duriez, INRIA, Villeneuve d'Ascq, France
Paolo Fiorini, University of Verona, Italy
Pierre Jannin, LTSI, Rennes, France
Sylvain Martel, Polytechnique Montréal, Canada
Andreas Melzer, IMSaT, Dundee, UK
Sarthak Misra, University of Twente, The Netherlands
Guillaume Morel, ISIR, Paris, France
Pierre Mozer, ISIR, Paris, France
Florent Nageotte, ICube, Strasbourg, France
Nassir Navab, TUM, Munich, Germany
Philippe Poignet, LIRMM, Montpellier, France
Cameron Riviere, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Luc Soler, IRCAD, Strasbourg, France
Eric Stindel, CHU-LATIM, Brest, France
Danail Stoyanov, University College of London, England
Russ Taylor, John Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA
Jocelyne Troccaz, TIMC, Grenoble, France
Nabil Zemiti, LIRMM, Montpellier, France


Lectures and school materials


All lectures will be given in English. The lecturers' slides will be available on line at the time of the class. All the School material (including slides of students' presentations) will be available by the end of September on the website of the Summer school together with significant papers of the lecturers as well as videos.


ECTS


The 36-hour courses of the Summer School will be accredited by the Doctoral School on Information, Systems and Structure (I2S) of the University of Montpellier 2 (a Doctoral School in the French Universities manages the Ph.D. degree). 5 ECTS credit points will be awarded to student attendees.


Accommodation



The lectures will be given at the "Belambra Club Presqu’ile du Ponant", which is located at La Grande-Motte (seaside resort near Montpellier). Further details on how to get there. The attendees will be sharing apartments for two to three persons.