Study on orthopaedic path planning of Taylor spatial frame.

AIM: Taylor spatial frame (TSF) is a kind of six-axis external fixator based on Stewart platform, which is widely used in the fields of trauma orthopaedics and orthopaedic reconstruction.

PURPOSE: To reduce the irregular movement of TSF's moving platform during orthopaedic process and decrease the risk of complications caused by collision between bone and surrounding tissue.

METHOD: We combine the kinematics solutions with the multi-objective genetic algorithm and ant colony optimization to get the optimal solution for adjustment of strut length and order. We conduct simulation and physical experiment of orthodontic process respectively to prove the effectiveness of our method.

RESULT: After optimization, the average offset during a single adjustment is less than 1 mm, and the offset during the whole orthopaedic process is reduced by about 38.8%.

CONCLUSION: It demonstrates that our method can effectively reduce the offset of moving platform while ensuring orthopaedic accuracy.