Tracking Strategy Based on Magnetic Sensors for Microrobot Navigation in the Cochlea

One approach to control drug delivery in the cochlea is to use a magnetic microrobot powered by externally applied magnetic fields. However, it is necessary to integrate a localization system to ensure the precise navigation of the microrobot in the cochlear canal. To avoid integrating a clinical imaging modality for the navigation of microrobots in the cochlea, we propose in this work the application of magnetic sensors to localize the magnetic microrobot. In our method, we propose a real-time localization system based only on two sensors to keep a precise localization of the spherical magnetic microrobot. The first sensor measures both the magnetic field of the environment and the magnetic field generated by the microrobot (localization sensor). The second sensor (surrounding sensor) is placed away from the localization sensor, this sensor measures the magnetic field of the environment, which will be subtracted from the signal of the localization sensor to determine the value of the magnetic field of the microrobot. We have proposed a new magnetic sensor calibration method and a robust localization algorithm for precise localization of the microrobot. The experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the designed system and show the precision of the proposed localization strategy.