1. Robotic Radiation Oncology
Conor Judge
Electronic and Computer Engineering
National University of Ireland, Galway

2. Introduction Project Background Original Aims System Overview
Image Acquisition
Image Processing
Robotic Control
Demonstration Environment
Completed System
Possible Future Work
Conclusion

3. Project Background
Radiation oncology is the treatment of cancerous cells using ionising radiation.
External beam radiation therapy is the most common form of radiation therapy.

4. Project Background Problems with External Beam Radiation Therapy
Movement of tumour
Movement of patient
Problems caused by movement
The area of radiation around the tumour has to be increased to account for this movement.
The radiation dosage has to be reduced.

5. Project Background Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT)
CT Image of Body
Readjustment of External Beam
Radiation

6. Original Aims
Prove the concept that a moving tumour can be tracked by a beam of radiation.
A small ball is used to simulate the tumour and a laser beam is used to represent the radiation beam.

7. System Overview

8. Image Acquisition Sub-Section
The Image Acquisition consists of two areas
Hardware
Two standard USB webcams
Software
The Image Acquisition Toolbox in MatLab

9. Image Processing Sub-Section
Locate centre of ball
Canny Edge Detection
Edge Linking, Circle Fit Algorithm

10. Robotic Control The Robotic Control Sub-section consists of two parts
Hardware
Servo motors and USB servo controller
Software
Serial interface on MatLab

11. Demonstration Environment
Lego Mindstorms NXT Robotic Development System
Controls position and movement of ball

12. Completed System
Ball Moves and is followed by laser on pan and tilt servos
Processes frames at just over one frame per second (Good for MatLab)
Demonstrates
proof of concept (Initial Aim)

13. Possible Future Work
Port algorithm to C code or embedded system for improved performance
Modify the algorithm to output control commands for conventional linear accelerators
Perform image processing techniques on actual medical images

14. Questions?