A Cable‐Driven Wearable Robot Design for Multi‐Needle Positioning and Manipulation

BACKGROUND: Multi-needle puncture is essential for clinical procedures such as multi-target biopsy. However, existing robotic systems face the challenge of providing simultaneous 6-DoF multi-needle control while maintaining CT/MRI compatibility. METHODS: This paper presents a cable-driven wearable robot for the manipulation of multiple needles, which integrates a 4-DoF parallel module for needle positioning, a miniaturized 2-DoF puncture module for individual steering, and a dual-stiffness mounting module for rapid and stable installation. A hybrid cable-driven transmission combined with non-metallic materials ensures CT/MRI compatibility. A prototype was developed for the dual-needle case, and kinematic models were established for accurate closed-loop control. RESULTS: mm. CONCLUSION: The proposed design is validated by a prototype capable of accurate multi-needle positioning and manipulation while maintaining full MRI/CT compatibility.