UNISON - UltrasouNd-guided multI-robotic interventionS invOlving boNy structures

Robotic surgery is being increasingly adopted in surgery and interventional radiology with the aim of improving patient outcome. Today, robots are mainly controlled from a remote control station, hands-on through co-manipulation or occasionally in a stand-alone fashion. Whereas successful surgeries and interventions are characterised by a smooth and efficient interplay between the members of the clinical team, today's robotic systems have limited ability to account for gestures or constraints from other players engaged in the intervention. The goal of this thesis is to develop methods to optimise cooperation between a surgical robot and the rest of the surgical team, whether this entails other robotic systems or medical staff. Sensing, reasoning, communication and coordinated control will form basic building blocks of the envisioned approach that will be demonstrated on a series of critical surgical and/or interventional challenges.