In ophthalmic surgery, every bit of precision is crucial; the challenge for the Horizon Surgical Systems team is to use robots to perform high-precision eye surgeries. By using the API laser tracker for robot calibration, the team has increased the precision of the surgical robot by 5 to 10 times.Let's take a look at how they achieved this goal:

Horizon Surgical Systems and Ophthalmic Surgical Robots

The Horizon Surgical Systems team is developing a surgical robot for ophthalmology, with its first application direction being cataract surgery. The company was initially founded by a research team from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), which is dedicated to conducting research related to surgical robots, focusing on identifying key anatomical structures in surgical images and using this data to guide the robot in performing surgical operations.

Figure 1: The ophthalmic surgical robot from the Horizon Surgical Systems team

Challenge: In ophthalmic surgery, every micron is critical

In many surgeries, including orthopedic and soft tissue surgeries, the precision of the human hand is already sufficiently high. As the Horizon team puts it, orthopedic surgery is somewhat like carpentry: a millimeter of error is something that bones can grow and fill over time.

However, there is no such margin for error in ophthalmic surgery. Precision is one of the core capabilities of any surgical robot, and every millimeter is crucial when performing eye surgery. To safely complete any type of ophthalmic surgery, the robot must be as precise as possible.

This brought a severe engineering challenge: the Horizon team needed a method to measure the manufacturing and assembly differences generated from one robot to the next. Without accurately obtaining this difference data, the robots might not achieve the precision levels required by the process.

Figure 2: API brand series laser trackers (Radian series and iLT series)

Solution: API laser tracker with MATLAB SDK

The Horizon team sought metrology solutions from Automated Precision Inc. (API). API's laser trackers can provide the measurement data needed by the Horizon team, with precision sufficient to help each robot reach its full potential.

There are two reasons for choosing API. The first is technical: API offers a MATLAB toolbox interface that can be directly integrated into the Horizon team's workflow. The second is good communication and quality service - the Horizon team established a close relationship with their API representative, who was always willing to provide the necessary support to help them solve problems.

Since Horizon adopted a truly unique system, developing its own software framework was crucial. The API SDK is flexible enough to build this framework on, helping the team complete software development in a short time and collect all the required measurement data.

Figure 3: API Radian laser tracker performing measurement calibration tasks on the Horizon ophthalmic surgical robot

Result: Accuracy improved by 5 to 10 times

By using the API laser tracker for robot calibration, the Horizon team successfully increased the precision of the surgical robot by 5 to 10 times. For a robot designed to operate inside the human eye, this improvement means moving from a promising prototype to a viable surgical platform.

Dr. Jacob Rosen, Chief Technology Officer of the Horizon Surgical System team, said: “The word ‘exceed’ is far from enough. For any system that requires high precision and accuracy, whether robotic or not, I would choose API.”

Figure 4: Dr. Jacob Rosen, Chief Technology Officer of Horizon Surgical Systems, being interviewed

About API

The API brand was founded by Dr. Kam Lau in 1987 in Rockville, Maryland, USA. He is the inventor of the laser tracker and holds multiple patents in globally leading measurement technologies, making him a leader in the field of precision measurement technology. Since its establishment, API has been dedicated to the research and production of precision measuring instruments and high-performance sensors in the mechanical manufacturing sector. Its products are widely used in advanced manufacturing fields around the world and are at the forefront of high-precision standards in coordinate measurement and machine tool performance testing.

Figure 5: API Company Headquarters Building