Hindawi Publishing Corporation

Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Article ID 198748

Review Article
A Review on Robot in Prosthodontics and Orthodontics

Jin-gang Jiang,1 Yong-de Zhang,1 Chun-ge Wei,1 Tian-hua He,1 and Yi Liu2
1
Intelligent Machine Institute, Harbin University of Science and Technology, Harbin 150080, China
2
Peking University School of Stomatology, Beijing 100081, China

Correspondence should be addressed to Jin-gang Jiang; jiangjingang@hrbust.edu.cn

Received 17 August 2014; Accepted 21 September 2014

Academic Editor: Haiyan Hu

Copyright Jin-gang Jiang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Application of robot to prosthodontics and orthodontics is a novel application of robot technology in medical field. This kind of
robots can realize the manufacturing of complete or partial denture, dental implantology, and the bending of archwire. We have
conducted a critical review on the development of application of robot in prosthodontics and orthodontics to identify the limitations
of existing studies and clarify some promising research directions in this field. This paper is presented to summarize our findings
and understanding. The main problems in its development are analyzed, the development trend is foreseen, and the future research
is discussed.

1. Introduction According to the American Dental Association, approx-

Robot can not only increase the productivity of the workers,
taking the place of human to do the repeated, boring, and
dangerous work, but also accomplish some work where
human is not competent [1]. Therefore, robot is paid much
attention and widely used increasingly. Since the 1990s,
the application of robot is gradually extended from the
traditional industrial areas to families and medical and other
fields. In 1994, the First International Symposium on Medical
Robotics and Computer Assisted Surgery is held in Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania, USA. Thus, in many developed countries, such
as the United States, Italy, Japan, and other countries, the
government and academia focus on the development of
medical robot system and deploy plenty of manpower and
financial resources on the research field [2, 3]. In the past
few years, the production value of electronic medical devices,
developed on the basis of medical robots system, is growing
at 10 percent a year. This is more than the industrial growth
rate. In the next five years, it is estimated that medical robot is
still growing at 2040 percent a year [48]. The governments
of the countries around the world not only hope that the
research of medical robot system brings convenience to the
treatment of diseases and produces good social effects. They
also hope it can generate a new economic growth point and
bring better economic benefit.
imately 113 million American adults are missing at least one
tooth, and 19 million have no teeth at all [9, 10]. After loss
of the natural dentition, craniofacial morphology changes
and vocal and masticatory functions are seriously affected. In
order to recover the craniofacial morphology and physiolog-
ical functions of edentulous patients and protect the health
of the TMJs (temporomandibular joints), prosthodontics is
needed in a timely manner [11]. Malocclusion is the common
oral diseases, and malocclusion will affect the oral health
and function, as well as appearance. Furthermore, dyspepsia
and other gastrointestinal diseases are caused by lower
masticatory function. Currently, prevalence rate of maloc-
clusion reaches up to 68 percent in China. Fixed appliance
technology is the most common and effective malocclusion
orthodontic treatment method, and the key step of fixed
appliance technology is the bending of orthodontic arch-
wire. Traditional prosthodontics and orthodontics are largely
based on visual assessment and manual operation. Coop-
eration between experienced dental specialist and skilled
technician is often needed to produce high quality dentures
with low revision rate. Because of archwire hyperelasticity,
shape complexity of formed archwire, and the uncertainty
of manual operation, it is difficult to realize the personalized
archwire bending. This has caused high level of randomness
and put many restrictions on clinical prosthodontics and
2 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

orthodontics [12]. Application of robot in surgery and other CRS robot Electromagnetic gripper
medical fields reminds us that an automatic system may
Robot controller
also be able to play an important role in prosthodontics and
orthodontics.
With the development of robotics and artificial intelli-
gence theory, and the urgent requirements of prosthodontics
and orthodontics, a new type of medical robot, such as robot
in prosthodontics and orthodontics, is appeared. Robot in
prosthodontics and orthodontics can realize the following
functions, such as the manufacturing of complete or partial
denture, dental implantology, and the bending of archwire. Worktable
Rich experience and technique between experienced dental Light source
specialist and skilled technician is integrated to the software Computer and
of prosthodontics and orthodontics expert system. Then Light-sensitive glue control software
robot in prosthodontics and orthodontics realizes the man-
ufacturing of complete or partial denture, dental implantol-
ogy, and the bending of archwire. Robot in prosthodontics Figure 1: Single manipulator tooth-arrangement robot system for
and orthodontics is a whole new application of robotics complete denture.
in medical field. The study about robot in prosthodontics
and orthodontics also will be a theoretical and technical
innovation and breakthrough. Its successful application will
not only realize the quantification of complete denture or
partial restoration, dental implantology, and the bending of
archwire, but also promote the development of prosthodon-
tics, orthodontics, and relative fundamental theory.

2. State of the Art of Application of Robot in

Prosthodontics and Orthodontics
2.1. Tooth-Arrangement Robot. Single manipulator robot sys-
tem for the manufacture of complete denture is developed
using 6DOF (degree of freedom) CRS robot produced by
Canada. The structure, tooth-arrangement algorithm, and
motion control of single manipulator tooth-arrangement
robot system are studied [1315]. Single manipulator tooth-
arrangement robot system for complete denture is shown in
Figure 1, which consists of the following components: 6DOF
CRS robot, electromagnetic gripper, computer, a central
control system with tooth-arrangement and robot control
software for tooth-arrangement, motion planning and con-
trol, denture base, light source device, and light-sensitive
glue [1618]. Three-dimensional virtual tooth-arrangement
software is programmed based on VC++ and OpenGL. The
functions of the virtual tooth-arrangement software are as
follows. (1) Choose or create medical history files of a patient,
draw a jaw arch and dental arch curves by experts experience
according to the jaw arch parameters of the patient, and adjust
the dental arch curve by experts experience reasonably. (2)
Display three dimensional virtual dentitions on the screen,
provide a virtual observation environment for designed
dentitions, and interactively modify each tooth posture.
The robot control software is programmed based on RAPL
language. The functions of the robot control software are
used to calibrate tooth-arrangement initial position for tooth-
arrangement robot, create control data profile for real tooth-
arrangement with the robot, and control the robot for tooth-
arrangement operation. The maximum load of this robot
system is 3 Kg, the maximum line velocity is 4.35 m/s, and the
repeated positioning accuracy is 0.05 mm. An experiment
Figure 2: Working process of the single manipulator robot tooth-
arrangement robot system for complete denture.
of complete denture manufacturing is implemented using this
robot system. The completed upper as well as lower dentition
for a patient having no clinical experience is obtained.
Figure 2 shows the working process of the single manipulator
robot tooth-arrangement robot system for complete denture.
The realization scheme of tooth-arrangement multifinger
hand is designed based on MOTOMAN UP6 robot. The
structure, grasping theory and simulation, and workspace
analysis of tooth-arrangement multifinger hand are studied
[1921]. This multifinger hand has three fingers: each finger
has three degrees of freedom. On the basis of the analysis
of workspace and motion simulation, this multifinger hand
can meet the tooth-arrangement requirements theoretically.
However, artificial teeth are very complicated in shape and
not easy to be grasped and manipulated accurately by a
multifinger hand.
84DOF multimanipulator tooth-arrangement robot,
which is shown in Figure 3, is designed. There are 14
independent manipulators on the dental arch curve. Each of
Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Figure 3: Structure of the 84DOF multimanipulator tooth-arrange-
ment robot.
them can move along its own trail to satisfy the requirement
for each tooths position on the dental arch curve. These
manipulators support every tooth by a tooth-arrangement
helper and provide the controls with six degrees of freedom
(three rotations and three movements) to adjust each tooth
for its position along X, Y, Z, lingual, rotation, and near-
far-medium directions. This robot system is driven by 84
motors. Combining with the tooth-arrangement helper, this
robot can realize any posture in the artificial teeth space.
Without grasping the artificial teeth directly, it can also solve
many problems that a single robot has difficulty with, for
example, grasping and sequentially locating artificial teeth
during a tooth-arrangement process [22].
For 84DOF multimanipulator tooth-arrangement robot,
because the amount of driven motor is as many as 84, it
is difficult to realize the control and kinematic calculation
of this robot system. Aiming at this problem, the tooth-
arrangement strategy is proposed based on the combination
of dental arch curve generator and tooth-arrangement helper
[23]. Figure 4 shows the 50DOF multimanipulator tooth-
arrangement robot system. It consists of 14 independent
manipulators, a dental arch generator, and a slipway mech-
anism. The slipway mechanism is used to achieve a 5-point
(one fixed-point and four moving-points) control for the
dental arch curve generator, which is used to create a dental
arch curve that matches the one from a patients oral cavity.
There are 14 manipulators on the flexible dental arch curve
generator. Each of them can move along its own trail to satisfy
the requirement for each tooths rotation. These manipulators
support every tooth by a tooth-arrangement helper and
provide the controls with three degrees of freedom (two
rotations and one movement) to adjust each tooth for its
position along Z, lingual, and near-far-medium directions.
Two parallel vertical bolt bars are placed under every single
manipulator and each of the bolt bars is connected to
a flexible steel shaft driven by a stepper motor. Through
coupling, the stepper motor drives the flexible shaft to rotate,
which makes the bolt bar rotating with it. When the two bolt
bars rotate uniformly, the rolling frame moves up and down
with the rotating shaft of the near-far-medium direction,
3
Computer and motion Photoelectric
control software isolation board
Dental arch generator
Power supply
Multimanipulator tooth-
arrangement robot
Figure 4: 50DOF multimanipulator tooth-arrangement robot sys-
tem.
which moves conjugate with the tooth. Since the tooth-
arrangement helper is fixed on the rotating shaft by a dowelled
connection, one traveling freedom is achieved in this way.
When the two bolt bars rotate inconsistently, the rolling frame
rotates, bringing along the rotation of tooth-arrangement
helper, and so the ligula direction can be realized. Rotating
shaft of near-far-medium direction itself is connected with
flexible shaft and driven by a stepping motor. It can drive
the tooth-arrangement helper rotation and the near-far-
medium direction is thus achieved. As described above, the
manipulator moves with three degrees of freedom. Thus the
amount of driven motors is decreased to 50. Furthermore,
the mechanism is simple, dexterous, and easy to control. The
related researches about the coordinated control of dental
arch generator [24], high precision synchronous control of
50DOF multimanipulator tooth-arrangement robot based on
software timer [25], and the kinematic analysis and planning
[2630] are studied. The manufacturing process of complete
denture only takes about 30 minutes using this robot system.
The accuracy of the robotic system is measured. The repeated
positioning accuracy is 0.07 mm for a single manipulator
and 0.10 mm for the whole robot system. Figure 5 shows
the complete denture made by the 50DOF multimanipulator
tooth-arrangement robot system.
Aiming at the problem of traditional manufacturing
methods of complete dentures, a concept of professional and
miniaturized Cartesian type robot for tooth-arrangement is
put forward based on TRIZ theory. The three-dimensional
structure of Cartesian type tooth-arrangement robot is
designed. The kinematic simulation and analysis is per-
formed using ADAMS [31, 32]. Virtual prototype for tooth-
arrangement robot of Cartesian type is as shown in Figure 6.
2.2. Dental Implantology Robot. In dental implant research,
many unsolved problems concern the interfacial stress dis-
tributions between the implant components, as well as
between the implant surface and contacting bone. To obtain
4 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Figure 5: Complete denture made by the 50DOF multimanipulator
tooth-arrangement robot system.
Figure 6: Virtual prototype for tooth-arrangement robot of Carte-
sian type.
a mechanical understanding of how vertical and horizontal
occlusal forces are distributed, it is crucial to develop in
vitro testing systems to measure the force transmission
between dental implants and attached prostheses. Figure 7
shows the measurement system for mastication force after
dental implantology established by University of Kentucky
[33]. The system has been designed to produce simulated
mandibular movements and occlusal contact forces so that
various implant designs and procedures can be thoroughly
tested and evaluated before animal testing or human clinical
trials. Two commonly used fixed prosthesis designs used to
connect an implant and a tooth, a rigid connection, and a
nonrigid connection were fabricated and used for experi-
mental verification. The displacement and force distributions
generated during simulated chewing activities were measured
in vitro. Force levels, potentially harmful to human bone
surrounding the connected dental implant and tooth, were
analyzed. These results are useful in the design of prostheses
and connecting components that will reduce failures and
limit stress transfer to the implant/bone interface.
Robotic implant denture workbench, from preoperative
planning to splint drilling [34], which is established by
Ecole des Mines de Paris in France, and Umea Universitet
Bentley/Nevada
sensor conditioner
ADEPT robot
Displacement
output
Monitor
Strain gauge
output
F/T sensor
Test fixture
Robot controller HP data
acquisition unit
F/T sensor controller
System control
Figure 7: Measurement system for mastication force after dental
implantology.
in Sweden, is as shown in Figure 8. A new method for
dental implant surgery is presented. A preoperative planning
software is programmed and used to work with CT scanner
data. A 3D reconstructed model of the patients jaw is
established. Implant fixtures are placed with the help of a 3D
reconstructed model of the patients jaw. An accurate robot
is then used to drill a jaw splint, at the locations determined
with the planning software, in order to make a surgical guide.
The robot has five degrees of freedom (three translations
and two rotations). It has a 0.04 mm translation accuracy
and a 0.15 rotation accuracy. By pointing the radio-opaque
balls with the robot, the location of these balls in the robot
referential is determined with an accuracy close to 0.3 mm;
by pointing them in the CT scanner images, their location in
the scanner referential is also determined, with an accuracy
close to 0.25 mm. A first case has been treated with this
new protocol, at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial
Surgery of Umea University, in Sweden. The patient was
an upper jaw edentulous woman. Because of a strong bone
resorption, she had a bone graft before the implant surgery.
An 8-implant treatment was planned using the preoperative
planning software. Figure 9 shows the robot drilling the
patients jaw splint. Figure 10 shows the position of the fixture
implants placed in the jaw after drilling. The experimental
result shows that all implants are precisely placed at the right
location.
The use of a robot for drilling the implant site in
preparation for the insertion of the implant is proposed
[35]. An image-guided robotic system for automated dental
implantation is described. Patient-specific 3D models are
reconstructed from preoperative Cone-beam CT images,
and implantation planning is performed with these virtual
models. A two-step registration procedure is applied to
transform the preoperative plan of the implant insertion
into intraoperative operations of the robot with the help
of a Coordinate Measurement Machine. Experiments are
carried out with a phantom that is generated from the
patient-specific 3D model. Fiducial Registration Error and
Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Figure 8: Robotic implant denture workbench, from preoperative
planning to splint drilling.
Figure 9: Robot drilling the patients jaw splint.
Figure 10: Position of the fixture implants placed in the jaw after
drilling.
5
Figure 11: Dental implantology system using the ABB IRB2400/
M98 robot.
Target Registration Error values are calculated to evaluate the
accuracy of the registration procedure. This research laid a
foundation for automatic robotic dental implantation.
Dental implantology system using the ABB IRB2400/
M98 robot is established by University of Coimbra, in
Portugal, is as shown in Figure 11 [36]. The system includes
an industrial robot manipulator, a data acquisition board,
strain gauges for stress/strain evaluation, and a force/torque
sensor (equipped with accelerometers) placed on the robot
wrist. This system can realize drilling and implant insertion.
The robot is equipped with a tool changer and is used in two
different tasks: (1) to perform the implant drilling operation
with the help of a dental drilling tool; (2) to apply pressure on
the assembled implants to simulate the mastication process.
The system software, which consists of robot calibration
module, drill plan module, load plan module, drill execution
module, and acquisition data module, is programmed based
on Matlab. The optimal number of implants and their
placement/orientation is studied through the implant force,
and the stress/strain analysis of jaw bone tissue with the
different drilling posture, but without considering the drilling
depth influence on the implant force, and the stress/strain
analysis of jaw bone tissue.
A computer assisted preoperative planning and surgical
navigation system in dental implantology is constructed [37].
It consists of two main subsystems: preoperative planning and
surgical navigation. In the preoperative planning subsystem,
different kinds of views to the surgeons based on CT data
scanned for a specific patient are provided. And the surgical
navigation subsystem uses an infrared light based navigation
camera to locate the precise position of the surgical instru-
ment. The two subsystems will combine together to form a
seamless linked all-in-one system for dental implantological
surgery. The depth and orientation of drilling will be tracked
under the same coordinate space, which will guarantee the
accuracy of match between the preoperative planned position
and the real-time navigated position. The experiments in
6 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Robot arm
Angle sensor
Torque sensor
Mini-implants
in bone
Figure 12: Implant surgery system constructed by the University of
Duesseldorf.
phantom study demonstrate that the mean errors of the depth
and the angle are 0.772 mm and 0.554 , respectively.
Implant surgery system constructed by the University of
Duesseldorf is as shown in Figure 12. The system includes a
robot arm, angle sensors, torque sensors, a precision poten-
tiometer, the driver shaft, and mini-implants in bone. This
system is used to analyze the impact of the insertion angle,
the insertion depth, and predrilling diameter on the implant
torque and primary stability of mini-implants [38, 39]. The
experimental results show that the highest insertion torque
value locates at angles between 60 and 70 (63.8 for Dual-
Top 1.6 mm and 66.7 for Dual-Top 2.0 mm). Higher insertion
depths result in higher insertion torques and thus primary
stability. Larger predrilling diameters result in lower insertion
torques. Very oblique insertion angles (30 ) result in reduced
primary stability. Implant diameter has a great impact on
insertion torque and hence primary stability of orthodontic
mini-implants. If the available space between two adjacent
roots is small, a more oblique direction of insertion seems
to be favorable to minimize the risk of root contact. Very
high insertion torques may lead to higher failure rates caused
by excessive bone compression; thus the appropriate ratio
between implant and predrilling diameter is crucial.
Human-robot cooperative manipulator for dental
implantology surgery, which is shown in Figure 13, is
designed by Chosun University [40]. This manipulator
with three degrees of freedom includes the insertion part
and angulation part. The insertion part is used to adjust
the insertion depth, and angulation part, which includes
the translational stage and rotation stage, is used to adjust
the insertion angle. Double parallelogram mechanism in
the angulation part can improve the safety and reliability
of implantology surgery. The related research about the
kinematic and dynamic analysis and three-dimensional
motion simulation using OpenGL and LabVIEW of this
manipulator are studied.
Rotation stage
Translation stage (linear guide)
Angulation part
Insertion part
Translation stage (linear guide)
Figure 13: Human-robot cooperative manipulator for dental im-
plantology surgery.
Dental implant navigation system assisted by robot is
constructed by Mahidol University and National Science
and Technology Development Agency [41]. Tracking path
generation of surgical instruments is established using optical
tracking method by infrared surgical marker and stereo
camera. The intraoperative system shows the position rela-
tionship between tracking path and surgical instruments and
the relationship between the instruments tool tip and the
tracking path of CT and stereo camera image. The insertion
position, angle, and depth can be calculated by homogenous
transformation. Virtual experimentation is conducted. The
testing is performed by controlling the instruments to track
on the simulated path. The results show that the tool of the
instrument and digitizer are on the track path on the screen.
An image-guided robotic system for automated dental
implantation, which is shown in Figure 14, is constructed by
Old Dominion University [42]. Patient-specific 3D models
are reconstructed from preoperative Cone-beam CT images,
and implantation planning is performed with these virtual
models. A two-step registration procedure is applied to
transform the preoperative plan of the implant insertion
into intraoperative operations of the robot with the help of
a Coordinate Measurement Machine (CMM). A CMM is
introduced into our system acting as the reference coordinate
system, to avoid direct contact between the robot and the
patient during the setup stage, thus ensuring the safety of the
patient. Phantom experiments show that the system design
is feasible and provides a target registration error of 1.42
0.70 mm.
2.3. Orthodontics Archwire Bending Robot. A robotic bending
apparatus for automatically bending orthodontic archwires
into a particular shape, which is shown in Figure 15, is
presented by Werner Butscher [43]. The bending apparatus
Advances in Mechanical Engineering 7

CMM Robot with dental drill-bit

Figure 15: SureSmile archwire bending robot.

Patient/phantom

Figure 14: An image-guided robotic system for automated dental

implantation constructed by Old Dominion University.

is known as SureSmile archwire bending robot. The bending

apparatus comprises a robot mounted to a base or table
support surface. A first gripping tool has a structure for
holding the archwire or other medical device and is either
be fixed with respect to the base or may be incorporated
into a moveable arm. The second gripping tool is mounted
to the end of a moveable six-axis robot arm having a
proximal portion also mounted to the base and a distal
end that can move relative to the fixed gripping tool about Figure 16: LAMDA system.
three translational and three rotational axes. Preferably, the
gripping tools incorporate force sensors which are used to
determine overbends needed to get the desired final shape of
the archwire and may also include a resistive heating system
in which current flows through the wire while the wire is
held in a bent condition to heat the wire and thereby retain
the bent shape of the wire. SureSmile is an all-digital system MOTOMAN UP6
which uses new 3-D imaging and computer techniques for
diagnostics and treatment planning and uses robotics to cus-
tomize fixed orthodontic appliances [44, 45]. Treatment can
be simulated in advance and different treatment strategies can
be visualized; this allows detailed treatment planning. The
application of CAD/CAM aims at improving reproducibility,
efficiency, and quality of orthodontic treatment.
A lingual archwire manufacturing and design aid Ni-Ti archwire
(LAMDA) for the accurate, rapid design, and bending of
the orthodontic archwire, which is shown in Figure 16,
is established by Gilbert. This system can only realize the
movement in XY plane. So it cannot bend the archwire with Robot actuator
closed loop [46].
Archwire bending robot based on MOTOMAN UP6 is
shown in Figure 17. The archwire bending robot is composed
of PC, MOTOMAN UP6, and the archwire bending actuator. Archwire fixator
The actuator matches with the end of the MOTOMAN
robot. The archwire bending actuator which connects with Figure 17: Archwire bending robot based on MOTOMAN UP6.
8 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Control software of the robotic

system for archwire bending

Motion control of industrial Motion control of archwire

robot bending

Interface detection unit

Record unit of presenting

Servo power control unit

Setting of zero position

Display unit of robot

Motion mode of joint

cartesian coordinate
Initialization unit

Display unit of end

actuator trajectory
Setting of motion
velocity and step

Motion mode of

coordinate

trajectory
pose

Figure 19: Cartesian type archwire bending robot.

Figure 18: Control software structure of archwire bending robot
based on MOTOMAN UP6.
y (mm)
Width of dental arch W

the MOTOMAN robot end is used to clamp and bend the

Height of dental arch L
archwire [47, 48]. Control software structure of archwire Molar
bending robot based on MOTOMAN UP6 is shown in offset
Figure 18. The bending process, the bending points position
and angle optimization of the archwire, the kinematics of
this robot, and bending properties of four type archwires are Canine
eminace
analyzed and simulated [4955].
Cartesian type archwire bending robot is shown in
Figure 19. Archwire bending robot mechanism is composed
of the base, the rotary, feed, and supporting structure of
archwire, bending die, and archwire bending mechanism x (mm)
[56, 57]. Bending process orthodontic archwire is analyzed
and structure of orthodontic archwire bending robot is Figure 20: Orthodontic archwire made by the Cartesian type
designed using Solidworks software. Precision control with archwire bending robot system.
a third-order pure S acc/dec profile of archwire bending
robot is established [58, 59]. Orthodontic archwire bending
experimentation is performed using Cartesian type archwire demand of the different patients mouth characteristics after
bending robot. Figure 20 shows the orthodontic archwire oral repair.
made by the archwire bending robot system. Basic design requirement of tooth-arrangement robot,
dental implantology robot, and orthodontics archwire bend-
ing robot is as follows.
3. Key Problems and Future
(1) For tooth-arrangement robot, in virtual environment,
Development on Application of Robot in qualitative description tooth-arrangement principle
Prosthodontics and Orthodontics should be quantitatively expressed. Accurate grasping
and sequential location of artificial teeth should be
3.1. Key Problems on Application of Robot in realized with fewer degrees of freedom.
Prosthodontics and Orthodontics (2) For dental implantology robot, dental implantology
3.1.1. Basic Requirement of Design. Qualitative description robot should have the following functions: preoper-
language in prosthodontics and orthodontics is transferred to ation 3D reconstruction and path preplanning, real-
quantitative description. With the help of three-dimensional time navigation of intraoperative image. The structure
oral character, the manufacturing of complete or partial of the robot should realize the flexible adjustment of
denture, dental implantology, and the bending of archwire insertion angle and position in the limited workspace
are realized automatically by the limited space robot. Main with help of image guidance.
difficulty of the design and manufacturing for robot in (3) For orthodontics archwire bending robot, orthodon-
prosthodontics and orthodontics is whether it can satisfy the tics archwire should be quantitatively expressed.
Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Archwire spring-back and bending points planning
should be analyzed to realize the accurate archwire
bending.
3.1.2. Research Difficulty. Function of the application of
robot in prosthodontics and orthodontics is different, so the
research difficulty also is not identical.
(1) Research difficulty of tooth-arrangement robot sys-
tem is parameterized description oral character, such
as jaw arch curve and dental arch curve, 3D recon-
struction of complex shape artificial teeth, digital
description, accurate grasping and location of artifi-
cial teeth, trajectory planning, and coordinated con-
trol of robot.
(2) Research difficulty of dental implantology robot sys-
tem is 3D reconstruction of preoperation oral cavity
CT image, the registration between intraoperative
navigation image and preoperative reconstruction
image, structure design of robot in limited workspace,
and trajectory planning of robot.
(3) Research difficulty of orthodontics archwire bending
robot system is spring-back analysis and bending
algorithm of archwire and generation of personalized
orthodontics archwire.
3.2. Future Development on Application of Robot in Prost-
hodontics and Orthodontics. Progress has been made in the
research of the application of robot in prosthodontics and
orthodontics, but it is not complete. Viewing from the state
of the art of application of robot in prosthodontics and
orthodontics and the market demand of oral cavity repair, the
following research aspects should be done in the future.
(1) Novel Structure. High flexibility, reliability, and accuracy
are needed for the robot in prosthodontics and orthodontics,
but the workspace is limited by the oral cavity. The flexibility
and the limited workspace are one pair of technical contra-
dictions, so the total planning and optimization to the robot
is necessary.
In the precondition of satisfying the oral cavity repair,
the reducing of degree of freedom of the robot is necessary.
Using the dual relation in structure and property of serial
robot and parallel robot, requirements for the structural
design of robot in prosthodontics and orthodontics are met
by combining the high accuracy and simplified mechanical
structure performance of parallel robot and the flexibility
operation of serial robot.
(2) Sensor and Control Technique. For tooth-arrangement
robot, it needs to grasp and manipulate accurately 14 com-
plicated artificial teeth. So tooth-arrangement robot needs a
lot of degrees of freedom and sensors. A highly efficient and
coordinated control algorithm that is suitable for the tooth-
arrangement by robot is very crucial. For dental implantology
robot, the research in the future focuses on the registration
between intraoperative navigation image and preoperative
reconstruction image, real-time acquisition, and feedback
9
of drilling depth and the implant force. For orthodontics
archwire bending robot, the research in the future focuses on
archwire spring-back and bending algorithm.
(3) Human-Computer Interaction Technology. Human-com-
puter interaction technology is one of the key technologies of
motion control of the robot in prosthodontics and orthodon-
tics. For tooth-arrangement robot and dental implantol-
ogy robot, the working environment is limited; there exist
some illusions to the operators, such as the capturing and
adjustment operation of the whole robot and the adjustment
operation of drilling depth and posture. For orthodontics
archwire bending robot, the research in the future focuses on
three-dimensional virtual display of personalized orthodon-
tics archwire on the screen, a virtual observation environment
for a designed personalized orthodontics archwire, and the
positions interactive modification of different loop. For the
robot in prosthodontics and orthodontics, it is difficult to
detect working condition and realize the operation with
multiple obstacles unstructured environment. For facilitating
the operation, a kind of friendly human-computer interaction
software should be designed to provide humanization input
and feedback for the operators.
4. Conclusion
Because of the advantage of standardization, industrializa-
tion, and intelligence of the robot in prosthodontics and
orthodontics, it can accomplish the great revolution from
qualitative to quantitative of prosthodontics and orthodon-
tics, and it has been an important development direction of
medical robot.
State of the art of application and research of robot
in prosthodontics and orthodontics is introduced, and the
basic requirements and research difficulties of robot in
prosthodontics and orthodontics are pointed out; finally, the
research of robot in prosthodontics and orthodontics in the
future is expected from three aspects, such as new structure,
sensor and control technique, and human-computer interac-
tion technique.
In general, China takes the leading position in the
research of application of robot to tooth-arrangement; some
helpful explorations in the robot to tooth-arrangement the-
ory of research and application have been taken by Harbin
University of Science and Technology, Beijing Institute of
Technology, and School of Stomatology, Peking University.
Various countries in the world have taken helpful explo-
ration in robot to dental implantology and orthodontics
archwire bending, but it still remains at theoretical research
and preliminary experiment level. With the development of
correlation technique and theory, such as new structure, and
sensor and control theory, the robot will be widely applied in
prosthodontics and orthodontics.
Conflict of Interests
The authors report no conflict of interests. The authors alone
are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.
10
Acknowledgments
The authors are extremely grateful to the anonymous referees
for their most insightful and constructive comments, which
have enabled them to improve the paper significantly. The
authors are also grateful to the technical editor for reviewing
and editing the paper. This research was supported by
the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant
no. 51205093), the Heilongjiang Province Education Bureau
Project (Grant no. 12541147), and the National High Technol-
ogy Research and Development Program of China (Grant no.
2013AA040803).
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