Needle insertion in soft tissue has attracted considerable attention in recent years due to its
application in minimally invasive percutaneous procedures such as biopsies and …

Surgical simulators present a safe and potentially effective method for surgical training, and
can also be used in robot-assisted surgery for pre-and intra-operative planning. Accurate …

As a flexible needle with a bevel tip is pushed through soft tissue, the asymmetry of the tip
causes the needle to bend. We propose that, by using nonholonomic kinematics, control …

The tip asymmetry of a bevel-tip needle results in the needle naturally bending when it is
inserted into soft tissue. This enables robotic needle steering, which can be used in medical …

During needle-based procedures, transitions between tissue layers often lead to rupture
events that involve large forces and tissue deformations and produce uncontrollable crack …

We present algorithms for simulating and visualizing the insertion and steering of needles
through deformable tissues for surgical training and planning. Needle insertion is an …

The asymmetry of a bevel-tip needle results in the needle naturally bending when it is
inserted into soft tissue. As a first step toward modeling the mechanics of deflection of the …

This chapter describes how advances in needle design, modeling, planning, and image
guidance make it possible to steer flexible needles from outside the body to reach specified …

Here, we propose a planning method for knotting/unknotting of deformable linear objects.
First, we propose a topological description of the state of a linear object. Second, transitions …

The mechanical interaction between the surgical tools and the target soft tissue is mainly
dictated by the fracture toughness of the tissue in several medical procedures, such as …