DRIBON: A mechatronic bone drilling tool

This paper presents a new automatic mechatronic tool for bone drilling, a procedure which is currently very manual and where depth control is critical in most scenarios. The system and methods developed involve driving a rotating drill bit in an axial direction so that both the linear movement and the rotation of the drill bit are controlled and measurable for automatic drilling procedures. Control algorithms allow the system to effectively stop the drilling procedure as a response to bone layer transitions and/or breakthroughs without damaging the surrounding tissue. Validation experiments on the new bone drilling methodology and proposed system have been carried out.