ARTERY’s team and its contribution to a robotic revolution in structural heart surgery
Politecnico di Milano is leading partner in several tasks, including the use of artificial intelligence for anatomical landmarks recognition from ultrasound images and planning a path within anatomical structures that can be followed by the autonomous catheter.
This geometric path is intended to arrive at a target point in the mitral valve while maintaining maximum distance from critical structures, such as vessels and heart chamber walls.
The team has also been pivotal in creating an initial prototype actuation system: taking the identified optimal path as input, an automatic movement of the catheter toward the target point occurs.
The system has a retroactive position control that can correct the position in real time, taking into account the non-linearities of the system. A key role was played by Professor Elena De Momi, who was the technical guide for carrying out the activities.