Development of Fluidic and Synergistic Approaches for Critical Surgery Applications

The advent of minimal invasive surgery (MIS) has significantly reduced patient trauma, creating surgical options for patients that would otherwise be excluded due to large peri-operative risks. Traditionally, long, slender, but `rigid’ instruments are used. This PhD project will progress the use of `flexible’ instruments in MIS. This will lead to a step change in the level of invasiveness and reduction of patient trauma. FETO, a critical fetal intervention has been singled out as the target use case. Aside from novel drive technology and innovative flexible steerable instruments, this PhD project will develop advanced robotic operation schemes that will enable the surgeon to operate in a synergistic fashion and with unprecedented precision on critical surgical interventions.