Implementation of an Autonomous Assistive Robotic System for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

This paper presents the development of a robotized Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) system, as robotic assistance brings crucial benefits of the TMS to provide a more adequate, accuracy and reliable manner. A 6-DOF KUKA KR-16 robot, an ATI-multi-axis force/torque sensor and a Kinect 3D camera were used to develop the robotized TMS. All electrical signals were strategically processed by a host ROS-computer. Real-time hybrid position/force control based on Proportional Integral and Derivative (PID) control and Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC) was successfully implemented to ensure effective human-robot collaboration. The results claimed that the performance of the control schemes based on the PID and FLC control approaches were evidently acceptable for the robotized TMS application. However, in-depth observation exposed that the FLC method resulted to be slightly superior to the PID control by actively compensating for the dynamics in the non-linear system.