Robot-assisted Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (Robo-TMS): A Review
Journal:
arXiv
Published Date:
Jul 6, 2025
Abstract
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive and safe brain
stimulation procedure with growing applications in clinical treatments and
neuroscience research. However, achieving precise stimulation over prolonged
sessions poses significant challenges. By integrating advanced robotics with
conventional TMS, robot-assisted TMS (Robo-TMS) has emerged as a promising
solution to enhance efficacy and streamline procedures. Despite growing
interest, a comprehensive review from an engineering perspective has been
notably absent. This paper systematically examines four critical aspects of
Robo-TMS: hardware and integration, calibration and registration,
neuronavigation systems, and control systems. We review state-of-the-art
technologies in each area, identify current limitations, and propose future
research directions. Our findings suggest that broader clinical adoption of
Robo-TMS is currently limited by unverified clinical applicability, high
operational complexity, and substantial implementation costs. Emerging
technologies, including marker-less tracking, non-rigid registration,
learning-based electric field (E-field) modelling, individualised magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) generation, robot-assisted multi-locus TMS (Robo-mTMS),
and automated calibration and registration, present promising pathways to
address these challenges.
