Khaled El-Monajjed

McGill University | McGill · Department of Mechanical Engineering

The employment of force-feedback haptic devices in surgical simulators has faced several challenges given the high computational cost. In cases of minimally invasive spinal fusion surgeries, the internal tissue deformation cannot be visually perceived. This presents an opportunity to render haptic forces independent of visual simulation. Hence, thi...

Spinal instability remains a complex phenomenon to study while the cause of low back pain continues to challenge researchers. The role of fascia in biomechanics adds to the complexity of spine biomechanics but offers a new window from which to investigate our spines. Specifically, the thoracolumbar fascia may have an important role in spine biomech...

Recently, haptics manipulators have grown to become the most significant robotics technology development, being widely used successfully in surgical training simulators. This allows human operators to interact with a virtual reality (VR) environment and enhance the sensory experience. However, this technology remains to be fully exploited and its...

Numerous spine Finite Element (FE) models have been developed to assess spinal tolerances, spinal loadings and low back pain-related issues. However, justified simplifications, in terms of tissue decomposition and inclusion, for such a complex system may overlook crucial information. Thus, the purpose of this research was to develop and validate a...

The following paper presents the design, implementation, and validation of a new adaptive control system based on the Modified Function Approximation Technique (MFAT) augmented with backstepping control for a haptic robot with unknown dynamic and actuator parameters, employed in a spinal surgical simulator. The combination of backstepping control a...

Introduction: Virtual Reality haptic-based surgical simulators for training purposes have been recently receiving increased traction within the medical field. However, its future adoption is contingent on the accuracy and reliability of the haptic feedback. Goal: This study describes and analyzes the implementation of a set of haptic-tailored ex...

Thoracolumbar fascia involvement is often neglected when studying the biomechanics of the spine. The purpose of this study was to develop, validate, and explore the use of a novel finite element model of the spine, inclusive of the Thoracolumbar Fascia, Paraspinal Muscular Compartment (PMC) and the Intra-Abdominal Pressure (IAP) based on published...