Improved synchronization of HeartLander locomotion with physiological cycles

The variation of intrapericardial pressure due to the respiration and cardiac cycles greatly affects the locomotion efficiency of HeartLander, a minimally invasive surgical robot which adheres to and moves over the surface of the heart. This paper presents work which would allow HeartLander to improve motion efficiency by synchronizing its movement with the physiological cycles using a magnetic tracker. Using models of the respiratory and cardiac cycles generated using Kalman filtering techniques the work presented determines the phase of each physiological cycle in real time, which in turn enables synchronization of HeartLander to maximize locomotion efficiency.