BACKGROUND: Spatial positioning is the key function of a surgical navigation robot system, and accuracy is the most important performance index of such a system.METHODS: The kinematic parameters of a six degrees of freedom (DOF) robot arm were used to form the transformation from intraoperative fluoroscopy images to a robot's coordinate system without C-arm calibration and to solve the redundant DOF problem. The influences of three typical error sources and their combination on the final navigation error were investigated through Monte Carlo simulation.RESULTS: The navigation error of the proposed method is less than 0.6 mm, and the feasibility was verified through cadaver experiments. Error analysis suggests that the robot kinematic error has a linear relationship with final navigation error, while the image error and gauge error have nonlinear influences.CONCLUSIONS: This kinematic parameters based method can provide accurate and convenient navigation for orthopedic surgeries. The result of error analysis will help error design and assignment for surgical robots.
Algorithms Biomechanical Phenomena