Ultrasound-based Visual Servoing Group 8 Final Project Report

Ultrasound is well-suited for intraoperative imaging because it is cheap, portable, provides images in real-time, and does not use ionizing radiation. However hand-held ultrasound is user-dependent because it requires dexterity to obtain high-quality images, and certain features such as bone or air cannot be penetrated. In contrast, preoperative imaging provides much greater anatomical detail and considerable clinical utility, but it produces static images that differ from current reality due to organ movement and deformation. This project implements a robotic ultrasound system that uses visual servoing to automatically guide an ultrasound probe to a volume of interest within a preoperative image. The system allows the doctor to obtain accurate anatomy in real time by integrating a preoperative image with the current ultrasound scan of the patient, which combines the advantages of preoperative and intraoperative imaging.