Study on Therapeutic Intravascular Microrobot Controlled by External Magnetic Field

• Project/Area Number: 15K13906
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Intelligent mechanics/Mechanical systems
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: MITSUISHI Mamoru 東京大学, 大学院工学系研究科(工学部), 教授 (90183110)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 山本 江 東京大学, 大学院情報理工学系研究科, 准教授 (20641880) ; 杉田 直彦 東京大学, 大学院工学系研究科(工学部), 教授 (70372406) ; 原田 香奈子 東京大学, 大学院工学系研究科(工学部), 准教授 (80409672)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2017)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥900,000); Fiscal Year 2017: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000)
• Keywords: マイクロロボット / 手術支援 / 手術ロボット / 磁場制御

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Less invasive treatment of aneurysms using a microrobot has been proposed. In this study, a microrobot, which was a neodymium disk with a diameter of 1 mm and height of 0.5 mm, was navigated in vascular models using electromagnetic coils. The navigation of the microrobot in a large workspace was feasible when the coil position and angle were controlled by an industrial robotic arm.
First, the electromagnetic system was developed, and the control method was tested in simplified vascular models.Thereafter, the same microrobot was navigated through in 3D MCA phantom (blood vessels: 1-2 mm in diameter) using one nonlinear electromagnetic coil attached to an industrial robotic arm. 160 mm of 3D MCA was navigated in 175 s with an average microrobot position error of 3.7 mm.

Research Products

• [Presentation] Control of a medical microrobot in 2D vascular phantoms with pulsatile flow using a pair of electromagnetic coils (2016)
  • Author(s): Peter Plotner, Kei Yoshikawa, Kanako Harada, Ko Yamamoto, Naohiko Sugita, Mamoru Mitsuishi
  • Organizer: The sixth IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob2016)
  • Place of Presentation: National University of Singapore, Singapore
  • Year and Date: 2016-06-26
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Preliminary Study on Control of a Magnetically Propelled Intravascular Microrobot (2015)
  • Author(s): Kim, S., Yoshikawa, K., Plötner, P., Yamamoto, K., Harada, K., Sugita, N., and Mitsuishi, M
  • Organizer: 6th International Conference on Advanced Mechatronics (ICAM),
  • Place of Presentation: 東京，早稲田大学
  • Year and Date: 2015-12-05
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Comparison of Theoretical and Measured Forces on Magnetically Propelled Microrobots in a Vascular Phantom (2015)
  • Author(s): Plötner, P., Yoshikawa, K., Yamamoto, K., Harada, K., Sugita, N., and Mitsuishi, M.
  • Organizer: Second CIRP Conference on Biomanufacturing(CIRP-BioM)
  • Place of Presentation: Manchester Conference Centre, UK
  • Year and Date: 2015-07-29
  • Int'l Joint Research