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Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to propose a robotic system for percutaneous surgery. The key component in the system, a robotic arm that can manipulate a puncture needle is presented. The mechanical design, the motion control and the force control method of the robotic arm are discussed in the paper. Design/methodology/approach-The arm with an arc mechanism placed on a 3D Cartesian stage is developed as a puncture needle manipulator to locate the position of the needle tip, tune the needle's posture and actuate the puncture motion under the visual guidance of two orthogonal X-ray images of a patient by a surgeon. A focusing method by using two laser spots is proposed to automatically move the needle tip to a surgery entry point on the skin. A dynamics model is developed to control the position of the needle mechanism and an explicit force control strategy is utilized to perform the needle insertion. Findings-With the surgical system, a surgeon can easily perform puncture operation by taking two orthogonal real-time X-ray images as a visual feedback and accurately navigating the needle insertion. The laser-guided focusing method is efficient in placement of the needle tip. The explicit force control strategy is proved to be effective for holding constant and stable puncture force in experiments. Originality/value-The robotic arm has an advantage in easy redirection of the needle because the rotation and the translation are decoupled in the mechanism. By adopting simple laser pens and a well-developed kinematics model, the system can handle the entry point, locating task automatically. The focusing method and the force control method proposed in the paper are useful for the present system and could be intuitive for similar surgical robots.

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