An autonomous surgical robot for drilling a cochleostomy: preliminary porcine trial.

OBJECTIVE

To produce an autonomous drilling robot capable of performing a bony cochleostomy whilst minimising the damage to the underlying cochlear endosteum.

DESIGN

In this laboratory based study, a robotic drill was designed to measure the changes in force and torque experienced by the tool point during the drilling process. This information is used to predict the point of breakthrough and stop the drill prior to damaging the underlying endosteal membrane.

SETTING

Aston University.

PARTICIPANTS

Five porcine cochleas.

MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES

An assessment was made of whether a successful bony cochleostomy was performed, the integrity of endosteal membrane was then assessed.

RESULTS

The autonomous surgical robotic drill successfully performed a bony cochleostomy and stopped without damaging the endosteal membrane in all five cases.

CONCLUSIONS

The autonomous surgical robotic drill can perform a cochleostomy whilst minimising the trauma to the endosteal membrane. The system allows information about the state of the drilling process to be derived using force and torque data from the tool point. This information can be used to effectively predict drill breakthrough and implement a control strategy to minimise drill penetration beyond the far surface.