Visual servoing for beating heart surgery

Off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is still a technically challenging procedure. The existing mechanical stabilizers used for local suppression of the heart excursion have demonstrated significant residual motion, which could lead to a lack of accuracy in the surgical task, particularly in a minimally invasive surgery (MIS) context. Robots can help the surgeon by actively compensating for the heart motion using visual servoing. Various sensors like endoscopic camera, ultrasound imaging or even magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used to provide the feedback of the visual loop. Advanced control approaches like predictive, repetitive or robust control can enhance the compensation accuracy. They rely on a model that uses physiological inputs to predict the motion of the myocardium in real-time.