A novel robotic neuronavigation system: RONNA G3

This paper presents a novel robotic neuronavigation system, RONNA G3, developed for frameless stereotactic navigation based on standard industrial robots. The basic version of the RONNA G3 system has three main components: a robotic arm on a universal mobile platform, a planning system, and a navigation system. We have developed a stereovision localization device (RONNAstereo) that can be attached to the robot end effector for accurate non-contact localization of the patient in the operating room. RONNAstereo has two infrared (IR) cameras with macro lenses aligned at a 55° angle in the same plane. We have evaluated the application accuracy of the RONNA G3 system in a phantom study with two different registration methods. The first registration method involves a rigid fiducial marker with four retroreflective spheres (spherical fiducials). The second method uses freely distributed individual spherical fiducials mounted on single bone screws. We have evaluated the RONNA G3 positioning error for superficial (< 50 mm) and deep (50 mm to 120 mm) targets. The mean target positioning error (TPE) of the RONNA G3 system for superficial and deep targets was 0.43 mm (interquartile range 0.22 mm to 0.60 mm) and 0.88 mm (interquartile range 0.66 mm to 1.10 mm), respectively. Given the positioning errors from the phantom trials, we have prepared the system for clinical trials, which are currently in progress.