Towards reducing the failure rate of spinal fixation surgical procedures in osteoporotic patients, we propose a unique biomechanically-aware framework for the design of a novel concentric tube steerable drilling robot (CT-SDR). The proposed framework leverages a patient-specific finite element (FE) biomechanics model developed based on Quantitative Computed Tomography (QCT) scans of the patient's vertebra to calculate a biomechanically-optimal and feasible drilling and implantation trajectory. The FE output is then used as a design requirement for the design and evaluation of the CT-SDR. Providing a balance between the necessary flexibility to create curved optimal trajectories obtained by the FE module with the required strength to not buckle during drilling through a hard simulated bone material, we showed that the CT-SDR can reliably recreate this drilling trajectory with errors between 1.7-2.2%

翻译：为降低骨质疏松患者脊柱内固定手术的失败率，我们提出了一种独特的生物力学感知框架，用于设计新型同心管可转向钻孔机器人（CT-SDR）。该框架利用基于患者椎体定量计算机断层扫描（QCT）数据构建的个性化有限元（FE）生物力学模型，计算生物力学最优且可行的钻孔与植入轨迹。随后将有限元输出结果作为CT-SDR设计与评估的设计要求。在兼顾有限元模块生成的弯曲最优轨迹所需柔韧性，以及硬质模拟骨材料钻孔过程中不弯曲所需强度的前提下，我们证明CT-SDR能够以1.7%-2.2%的误差可靠地复现该钻孔轨迹。