Surgical roboticsIntermediate
Ex vivo breach detection using electrical conductivity during robotic pedicle drilling in the spine
This preprint presents a robotic pedicle-drilling system that uses a SpineGuard electrical bioimpedance drill tip and a real-time dual-threshold algorithm to stop drilling before a spinal canal breach. In ex vivo tests on 51 fresh porcine vertebrae, it prevented breaches in 100% of cases, with 6 grade A and 45 grade B results and a mean canal deformation of 0.7 mm. The work offers an imaging-free safety layer for robotic spine surgery.