Semi-active robotic assistance system for the implantation of total knee arthroplasty

• Subject Area: Medicine
• Term: Funded in 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 552378387

The applicants submit a proposal for a robotic assistance system, which is intended for experimental and clinical research in orthopaedics and will be integrated into an existing environment for experimental robotics. The Technical University of Munich is focusing on high-tech medical technology research areas in cooperation with the Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence and the Munich Data Science Institute. In 2020, the Center for Medical Robotics and Machine Intelligence was established at Klinikum rechts der Isar as an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research environment. Its aim is to promote digital and robotic methods within the various medical chairs. In 2023, a W2-TT professorship "Machine Intelligence in Orthopaedics" was created at the Chair of Orthopaedics, whose research areas are the conceptual design of AI platforms for multimodal data for systematic outcome optimization as well as the development of new technologies in robotics and extended reality for musculoskeletal surgery. Its aim is to develop new methods for therapeutic patient care using intelligent robot and sensor systems. In the Department of Orthopaedics, a structured research environment has also been set up with the establishment of musculoskeletal robotics and AI-based research groups in close cooperation with the MIRMI and the MDSI, which will use the semi-active robotic assistance system applied for. Experimental research will focus on the analysis and further development of robot assistance systems. The subject of the research is type-specific differences as well as workflow optimization and the development of new sensor systems. The Department of Orthopaedics already has a robotic assistance system, as well as an S2 laboratory and an interdisciplinary mock operating theatre for simulating realistic operating environments, which are used for biomechanical and ex-vivo studies. The results from experimental research are then incorporated into clinical research. In clinical research, the focus is on acquiring data along the digital treatment pathway. The use of the robotic assistance system enables the objective and standardized recording of intraoperative findings, from the analysis of individual alignment, 3D planning, dynamic joint balancing and the precise implementation of implantation. This makes more comprehensive and diversified data available, which is used by the research groups and correlated with the outcome in order to develop personalized treatment concepts and decision support systems. Klinikum rechts der Isar therefore offers an exceptionally unique environment and expertise for experimental and clinical research with robotic assistance systems, which can lead to an improvement in the quality of care for orthopaedic patients.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Semiaktives Roboter-Assistenzsystem für die Implantation von Kniegelenksendoprothesen
• Instrumentation Group: 3790 Sonstige spezielle Geräte der Chirurgie
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität München (TUM)
• Leader: Professor Dr. Rüdiger von Eisenhart-Rothe