Thomas Prieto1, Brian Armstrong2,
Michael Brzeski2, Robert Barrows2, Todd Kusik2,
Maxim Zaitsev3, Oliver Speck4, Thomas Ernst5
1Neurology, Medical College
of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United States; 2Electrical
Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, United States;
3Radiology, Medical Physics, University Medical Center Freiburg,
Freiburg, Germany; 4Biomedical Magnetic Resonance,
Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany; 5Medicine,
University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, United States
We present a novel drive mechanism for a computer controlled motion simulator to manipulate the position of a spherical phantom in an MR scanner. The drive mechanism uses 2 custom non-ferrous air motors to drive gears and timing pulleys to produce 2 cm of displacement along the Z axis and 20 degrees of rotation about the X axis at frequencies up to several Hz. The motion simulator will be useful in developing prospective motion correction methods as well as in other situations where a motion reference is needed.
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