SURREAL

About

The SURREAL project addresses key challenges in interventional radiology by developing a robotic, AI-based assistive platform for ultrasound-guided liver interventions. The aim is to provide targeted support for clinical professionals during minimally invasive procedures through a human-centered human–machine interaction.

The platform combines robotics, artificial intelligence, and natural language to capture, analyze, and adaptively support intraoperative workflows. Ultrasound-based procedures enable precise imaging without the use of ionizing radiation and thus contribute to reducing radiation exposure in the operating room.

Opportunity

Minimally invasive, ultrasound-guided liver interventions offer significant potential for the gentle and precise treatment of liver diseases. At the same time, they place high demands on clinical staff, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the coordination of complex workflows in the operating room.

The increasing shortage of skilled personnel, rising case numbers, and the growing complexity of interventional procedures are placing increasing strain on OR teams. In particular, ergonomic challenges, high information density, and communication requirements complicate the efficient execution of interventions and may affect treatment quality.

Solution/Product description

Within the SURREAL project, a robotic assistive platform is being developed to provide targeted support for clinical professionals during ultrasound-based liver examinations and interventions. At its core is a human-centered assistive technology that interacts with the OR team via a natural language human–machine interface.

During the intervention, the system continuously acquires multimodal data, including ultrasound images, acoustic information, and motion data from the operating room environment. These data are fused using AI models to enable a context-sensitive understanding of the procedure. Based on this understanding, the platform initiates adaptive support functions, such as adjusting the orientation of the ultrasound probe or executing robotic movements to improve the visualization of instruments in the ultrasound image.

The developed platform is modular in design and is not limited to liver interventions. In the future, it can be transferred to other clinical application areas in which different imaging modalities, robotics, and AI interact.

Why Us

The unique strength of SURREAL lies in the close interdisciplinary collaboration between clinical practice, research, and industry. Expertise in robotics, artificial intelligence, instrumentation, human–machine interaction, and clinical application is combined within an integrated development approach.

The project is carried out jointly with the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH), BEC Medical GmbH, and Fraunhofer IDMT. Through close integration with clinical workflows, the combination of multimodal data acquisition with AI-based analysis, and a strong focus on human-centered assistive systems, adaptive solutions are created that are specifically tailored to real-world requirements in the operating room.

Project funding

This project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Research and Technology (BMFTR) within the funding initiative NLP.bot under grant number 16SV9461.