Intelligent Medical Robotic Systems and Equipment Lab (Internship/Research)
In the Intelligent Medical Robotic Systems and Equipment (IMERSE) Lab, I’m currently working with Michelle Song, one of the group’s PhD students, to develop a Python-based GUI using Robot Operating System (ROS 2) to facilitate control of her in-development semi-autonomous vertebroplasty¹ robot. The robot, more specifically, is a needle insertion robot that functions through single instances and combinations of extending, contracting, and clamping the needle.
I designed the UI interface using Qt Widgets Designer and am implementing functionality and communication with an Arduino through Python scripts in a ROS 2 package. I’m communicating in ROS 2 via topics using publishers and subscribers and the GUI/ROS 2 nodes communicate with the Arduino through serial communication, requiring modifications to the base Arduino code to allow for control via the GUI. The GUI allows for control of the robot’s setup functions (tightening and releasing of the needle’s top and bottom clamps and extension and contraction of the needle) and of forward and backward needle drive (with adjustable speed and number of cycles).
I have also created a simple prototype to mimic the behavior of the robot, using LEDs to represent the robot’s motors.
1. Vertebroplasty is a procedure used to relieve pain caused by spinal fracture by injecting cement into fractured vertebrae.