Comparison of Classical, Neural Network and Hybrid Models for Hysteretic Single-Tendon Catheter Kinematics

While robotic control of catheter motion can improve tip positioning accuracy, hysteresis arising from tendon friction and flexural deformation degrades kinematic modeling accuracy. In this letter, we compare the capabilities of three types of models for representing the forward and inverse kinematic maps of a clinical single-tendon cardiac catheter. Classical hysteresis models, neural networks and hybrid combinations of the two are included. Our results show that modeling accuracy is best when models are trained using motions corresponding to the anticipated clinical motions. For sinusoidal motions, recurrent neural network models provide the best performance. For point-to-point motions, however, a simple backlash model can provide comparable performance to a recurrent neural network.