MRI-compatible soft robotic sensing pad for head motion detection

Authors

Mishek Musa, Saikat Sengupta, & Yue Chen

Abstract

Head motion remains a prevalent challenge to overcome in MRI as it results in severe image degradation. This letter presents the design, fabrication, and evaluation of a novel pneumatic based MRI-compatible soft sensing pad to be used for head motion detection. A modal based calibration method is used to estimate the weight of the head on the sensing pad. A calibration error of 0.12 ± 0.06 kg was observed. Gaussian process regression is then employed to establish a mapping from the weight of the head and the internal pressures of the sensing pad to the head motion based on experimental data. The testing result of the regression indicates that the sensing pad is capable of predicting the angle of the head in pure 1° of freedom rotations with a maximum RMSE of 1.48±1.12 deg over a range of ±40 deg. Over a range commonly observed in clinical practice of ±10 deg, the sensing pad is able to predict the head angle with an RMSE of 0.88±0.54 deg. The sensing pad has been deemed MRI safe and no significant SNR variation was observed during MRI compatibility experiments.

Recommended citation: M. Musa, S. Sengupta and Y. Chen, "MRI-Compatible Soft Robotic Sensing Pad for Head Motion Detection," in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 3632-3639, April 2022, doi: 10.1109/LRA.2022.3147892.
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