3D ultrasound-guided robotic steering of a flexible needle via visual servoing

We present a method for the three-dimensional (3D) steering of a flexible needle under 3D ultrasound guidance. The proposed solution is based on a duty-cycling visual servoing strategy we designed in a previous work, and on a new needle tracking algorithm for 3D ultrasound. The flexible needle modeled as a polynomial curve is tracked during automatic insertion using particle filtering. This new tracking algorithm enables real-time closed-loop needle control with 3D ultrasound feedback. Experimental results of a targeting task demonstrate the robustness of the proposed tracking algorithm and the feasibility of 3D ultrasound-guided needle steering.