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Sliding Mode Control of Steerable Needles

AUTHORS

Rucker D Caleb , Das Jadav , Gilbert Hunter B , Swaney Philip J , Miga Michael I , Sarkar Nilanjan , Webster Robert J . IEEE transactions on robotics : a publication of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society. 2013 10 ; 29(5). 1289-1299

ABSTRACT

Steerable needles can potentially increase the accuracy of needle-based diagnosis and therapy delivery, provided they can be adequately controlled based on medical image information. We propose a novel sliding mode control law that can be used to deliver the tip of a flexible asymmetric-tipped needle to a desired point, or to track a desired trajectory within tissue. The proposed control strategy requires no knowledge of model parameters, has bounded input speeds, and requires little computational resources. We show that if the standard nonholonomic model for tip-steered needles holds, then the control law will converge to desired targets in a reachable workspace, within a tolerance that can be defined by the control parameters. Experimental results validate the control law for target points and trajectory following in phantom tissue and liver. Experiments with targets that move during insertion illustrate robustness to disturbances caused by tissue deformation.

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