The latest research on an ultrasound-guided serial-parallel hybrid robot designed for transperineal prostate biopsy has just been unveiled.
The brainchild of Healinno Tech (Beijing) Co Ltd. and Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT), it was launched at the 2025 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2025), held in Hangzhou, China.
IROS 2025, a leading robotics conference, brought together more than 7,000 experts and industry representatives from around the world.
The paper, Ultrasonically Guided Serial-Parallel Hybrid Robot for Transperineal Prostate Biopsy: Mechanism Design, Optimisation, and Experimental Validation, showcases a pioneering biopsy robot that aims to address the clinical challenges of precision control and steep learning curves in manual prostate biopsy procedures.
The new robot employs a serial-parallel hybrid mechanism with five degrees of freedom, offering flexibility and high precision for needle insertion.
Its design includes two serial manipulators – a linear feed unit and an ultrasound probe positioning mechanism. Both make it adaptable to several clinical scenarios.
The research introduces a novel Quantum-behaved Particle Swarm Optimisation (QPSO) algorithm that optimises robotic mechanical parameters to enhance precision.
Compared with other mainstream optimisation methods, the QPSO algorithm delivered superior results, meeting the high-accuracy requirements of clinical surgeries.
The robot prototype was validated through experiments using water and gelatin phantoms, demonstrating excellent 3D absolute positioning errors of 1.47mm in water and 1.75mm in gelatin, both well within clinical standards.
Several national and municipal scientific projects in China support this breakthrough research.
Healinno Tech’s ongoing efforts focus on enhancing the robot’s capabilities with features such as dynamic tracking and respiratory compensation.
