Paul M. Khoury

“Threading the Loop” –Surgical Skill with Robot Arm

Programmed a 6-DOF DOFBOT robotic arm to replicate a laparoscopic threading task

Computer vision enabled thread detection & IK path planning.

Maintained laparoscopic field of view via visual servoing (following string as it moves)

Spoke to surgical robotics industry professionals to identify identified user needs: Assist operation goals by maintaining visualization and providing static retraction; Offload low-risk, supportive tasks while keeping all high-stakes decisions for the surgeon

Used camera calibration, HSV color-based string detection and visual servoing to continuously track and follow the thread in real time

Confronted hurdles including lens distortion and lighting sensitivity, jerky motion

Depth perception robustness was the primary performance bottleneck