Jitendra P. Khatait

Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Bio: Jitendra P. Khatait is currently working as an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. He works in the area of surgical robotics, using compliant mechanisms to design flexible instruments for safer surgical interventions. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from University of Twente, Netherlands in 2013 and worked in the area of tele-manipulation of surgical robots with flexible instruments. He received his B.E. from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in 2000 and M.Tech. from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in 2002. He later received M.T.D.(Mechatronics) jointly from National University of Singapore and Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands in 2005. He worked as a Design Engineer at ASML, Netherlands (2013-2014) and as a Research Engineer in Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology, Singapore (2005-2008). His research interests are in precision machine design, medical devices, flexible surgical instrument, and medical robotics. He has published several journal articles and filed patents in the relevant area.

Abstract: Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) or a keyhole surgery obviates the need for open surgery in most of the surgical interventions. MIS has benefited the patients immensely by reducing the damage and trauma to healthy tissues, post-operative complications, and greatly reduced the hospital stay. However, the surgeon suffered with reduced dexterity due to constrained manipulation and loss of haptic feedback and natural hand-eye coordination. Surgical robotics has addressed most of the limitations of MIS and improved dexterity, restored hand-eye coordination, and enhanced quality of surgery. Surgeon's and instrument's workspace are separated. The surgeon operates through his master console, manipulating the surgical instruments dexterously and remotely via a computer. On the other hand, the instruments with increased degrees of freedom greatly improve the surgeon's ability to manipulate instruments and tissues. Human robot interaction especially in medical robotics is very invasive and intrusive in nature. The robot design needs to meet conflicting requirements - stiffness v/s compliance, degrees of freedom v/s constraints, hard v/s soft, etc. These design traits must comply with the anatomy to provide safer and reliable interventions. Flexible instruments are now increasingly used for surgical interventions. The motion and force fidelity of these instruments can be greatly affected due to their length, dynamic geometry, and environment. Looping and whipping can be dangerous. .