Research and Realization of an OCT-Guided Robotic System for Subretinal Injections

For retinal degenerative diseases, advanced therapies such as gene therapy and retinal stem cell therapy have emerged as promising treatments, which are often delivered through subretinal injection. However, clinical subretinal injection remains challenging due to the extremely high precision requirements, lack of depth information, and the physiological limitations of manual operation, often leading to complications such as hypotony and globe atrophy. To address these challenges, this study proposes a novel ophthalmic surgical robotic system designed for high-precision subretinal injections. The robotic system incorporate a remote center of motion mechanism for its mechanical structure and employs a master–slave control system to achieve motion scaling. A microscope-integrated optical coherence tomography device is applied to provide real-time microscopic imaging and depth information. The design and performance of the proposed system are validated through simulations and experiments. Precision tests demonstrate that the system achieves an overall positioning accuracy of less than 30 μm, with injection positioning accuracy under 20 μm. Subretinal injection experiments conducted on artificial eye models further validate the clinical feasibility of the robotic system.