Steerable needle drive for minimally invasive brain surgery

Supervisor: Professor Ferdinando Rodriguez y Baena

This DMT group was tasked with creating an extremely compact four degree of freedom catheter drive system to control a flexible bevel tip needle. The product is designed to work in conjunction with segmented, programmable needles developed by EDEN2020, an initiative which aims to treat glioblastomas, which is a rare form of brain cancer. The idea developed by the group consists of using a novel, bio-inspired friction drive to act directly on the needle’s surface. As the contact area is extremely small, special materials were used that take inspiration from gecko feet. This material is nano-finished to have an extremely large surface area and thus ‘stick’ to flat surfaces via inter-molecular forces. This means that the friction drive can grip and move the needle segments, without leaving any residue. The four drives are then controlled mechatronically and thus the needle can be steered in 3D space while retaining an accurate position.