State Estimation for MRI-Actuated Catheters via Catadioptric Stereo Camera.

An MRI-actuated catheter is a novel robotic catheter system that utilizes the MR scanner for both remote steering and catheter tracking. In order to develop the mathematical model and the planning algorithm of the catheter in parallel to the MR tracking system, an alternative catheter tracking method is needed. This paper presents a catheter tracking algorithm based on the particle filter and the catadioptric camera system. The motion model of the particle filter is based on the quasi-static kinematics of the catheter. The measurement model calculates the weights of the particles according to the normalized cross-correlation of the segmented image from camera and a virtual rendering of the catheter. The efficacy of the tracking algorithm is demonstrates via experimental results.