Frank Tobias, Krieger Axel, Leonard Simon, Patel Niravkumar A, Tokuda Junichi
Institute of Mechatronic Systems, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover, Appelstrasse 11 a, 30167, Hannover, Germany.
Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation, Childrens National Health System, 111 Michigan Avenue Northwest, Washington, DC, 20010, USA.
Int J Comput Assist Radiol Surg. 2017 Aug;12(8):1451-1460. doi: 10.1007/s11548-017-1618-1. Epub 2017 May 31.
With the growing interest in advanced image-guidance for surgical robot systems, rapid integration and testing of robotic devices and medical image computing software are becoming essential in the research and development. Maximizing the use of existing engineering resources built on widely accepted platforms in different fields, such as robot operating system (ROS) in robotics and 3D Slicer in medical image computing could simplify these tasks. We propose a new open network bridge interface integrated in ROS to ensure seamless cross-platform data sharing.
A ROS node named ROS-IGTL-Bridge was implemented. It establishes a TCP/IP network connection between the ROS environment and external medical image computing software using the OpenIGTLink protocol. The node exports ROS messages to the external software over the network and vice versa simultaneously, allowing seamless and transparent data sharing between the ROS-based devices and the medical image computing platforms.
Performance tests demonstrated that the bridge could stream transforms, strings, points, and images at 30 fps in both directions successfully. The data transfer latency was <1.2 ms for transforms, strings and points, and 25.2 ms for color VGA images. A separate test also demonstrated that the bridge could achieve 900 fps for transforms. Additionally, the bridge was demonstrated in two representative systems: a mock image-guided surgical robot setup consisting of 3D slicer, and Lego Mindstorms with ROS as a prototyping and educational platform for IGT research; and the smart tissue autonomous robot surgical setup with 3D Slicer.
The study demonstrated that the bridge enabled cross-platform data sharing between ROS and medical image computing software. This will allow rapid and seamless integration of advanced image-based planning/navigation offered by the medical image computing software such as 3D Slicer into ROS-based surgical robot systems.
随着对外科机器人系统先进图像引导技术的兴趣日益浓厚，机器人设备与医学图像计算软件的快速集成和测试在研发中变得至关重要。充分利用不同领域广泛接受的平台上现有的工程资源，如机器人技术中的机器人操作系统（ROS）和医学图像计算中的3D Slicer，可以简化这些任务。我们提出了一种集成在ROS中的新型开放网络桥接接口，以确保无缝的跨平台数据共享。
实现了一个名为ROS-IGTL-Bridge的ROS节点。它使用OpenIGTLink协议在ROS环境与外部医学图像计算软件之间建立TCP/IP网络连接。该节点通过网络将ROS消息导出到外部软件，反之亦然，从而实现基于ROS的设备与医学图像计算平台之间的无缝且透明的数据共享。
性能测试表明，该桥接器能够成功地在两个方向上以30帧/秒的速度传输变换、字符串、点和图像。变换、字符串和点的数据传输延迟小于1.2毫秒，彩色VGA图像的数据传输延迟为25.2毫秒。另一项单独测试还表明，该桥接器在传输变换时可达到900帧/秒。此外，该桥接器在两个代表性系统中得到了演示：一个由3D Slicer组成的模拟图像引导手术机器人设置，以及以ROS作为IGT研究的原型和教育平台的乐高Mindstorms；还有一个配备3D Slicer的智能组织自主机器人手术设置。
该研究表明，该桥接器实现了ROS与医学图像计算软件之间的跨平台数据共享。这将使医学图像计算软件（如3D Slicer）提供的基于先进图像的规划/导航能够快速无缝地集成到基于ROS的手术机器人系统中。
