In total knee arthroplasty (TKA) procedures, the surgeon is required to correctly orient the cutting guides to ensure the surgical operation outcome. Navigation systems and medical robotic systems are becoming part of surgical practice, but they are still not easily accepted in clinics due to their disadvantageous cost benefit ratio: they offer solutions which are too high-tech for the surgical requirements without meeting the safety and economic constraints. The Orthorob project is aimed at providing the surgeon with a robotic assistant which holds surgical tools in the correct position while surgical cuts are being performed. The idea is to totally reconfigure present robotic assistants in order to design a newly conceived system which could be smoothly integrated in the operating room and easily accepted by surgeons. As a result, the system has to be modular, flexible and adaptable to surgeons demands, not cumbersome but safe and reliable and, above all, should permit mini-invasive access to the surgical field.
Principal Academic Tutor
Giancarlo Ferrigno
Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano
Academic Tutors
Laura Anselmi
Industrial Design, Arts, Communication and fashion, Politecnico di Milano
Cristina Bignardi
Mechanics, Politecnico di Torino
Maria Rita Canina
Industrial Design, Arts, Communication and fashion, Politecnico di Milano
Pietro Cerveri
Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano
Elena De Momi
Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano
Giuseppina Gini
Electronics and Information, Politecnico di Milano
Franco Maria Montevecchi
Mechanics, Politecnico di Torino
External institution
IRCC S Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi
External Tutor
Roberto D’Anchise
IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi
Team members
TEAM A
Cesare Buffa [Project Communication Coordinator & Team controller], Electronic Engineering
Simone Allazetta, Biomedical Engineering
Michele Bancale, Design & Engineering
Antonio Russo, Biomedical Engineering
Francesca Russo, Automotive Engineering
TEAM B
Mauro Brenna [Team controller], Computer Engineering
Alberto Recalenda, Biomedical Engineering
Keren Relin, Industrial Design
Marco Vergani, Electronic Engineering
Marco Diego Vittori, Electronic Engineering