Towards an automated, minimal invasive, precision craniotomy on small animals

Animal models for surgical interventions of neurological disorders are gaining more and more importance with the advent of sophisticated micro-technologies. One unavoidable procedure to access brain tissue is the craniotomy, the removal of skull bone. Since this procedure is always performed manually, it may lead to unwanted complications due too extensive bone removals, unwanted penetrations of the cerebral tissue or severe bleeding. In this work, a module to augment our Spherical Assistant for Stereotaxic Surgery (SASSU), a microrobot for small animal surgeries by monitoring the applied force of an electric drill, was designed. The exchangeable module consists of either a force or a sound measurement system, controlling a high speed microdrill.