A Four-DOF Laparo-Endoscopic Single Site Platform for Rapidly-Developing Next-Generation Surgical Robotics

Abstract

Minimally-invasive laparoscopic procedures have proven efficacy for a wide range of surgical procedures, but have notable shortcomings, including limited instrument motion and reduced dexterity. Endoscopic robots, like the intuitive surgical da Vinci system, have become an effective tool for many types of surgeries; however, these tools still have fundamental limitations with manipulator access, which reduces their effectiveness for many surgical procedures, like colectomy, cholecystectomy, and gynecologic oncology. Laparo-endoscopic single-site (LESS) robots operate in vivo, and overcome many of these limitations. Here, a four-degrees of freedom (DOF) surgical robot is presented as a tool to enable refinement of the LESS platform as a surgical tool, while also looking forward to applications in telesurgery and haptic feedback.

The Raven Open Surgical Robotic Platforms: A Review and Prospect

“…Several groups citing the Raven system have developed complete or nearly complete surgical robotic systems [6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. These systems often address new surgical procedures (such as pediatric cases or needle guidance) [6,9,10] novel delivery modes [8] or integration of industrial manipulators into surgery [12] Numerous groups have developed new hardware influenced by the Raven design [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] or focused on numerical optimization of mechansims [23]. Key aspects of these designs are minimally invasive character, often making a contribution such as novel mechanisms for decoupling motion at the laparoscopic entry port [13], decoupling drive axes [16], or reducing weight and size [19].…”

Raven: Open Surgical Robotic Platforms

“…Several groups citing the Raven system have developed complete or nearly complete surgical robotic systems [6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. These systems often address new surgical procedures (such as pediatric cases or needle guidance) [6,9,10] novel delivery modes [8] or integration of industrial manipulators into surgery [12] Numerous groups have developed new hardware influenced by the Raven design [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] or focused on numerical optimization of mechansims [23]. Key aspects of these designs are minimally invasive character, often making a contribution such as novel mechanisms for decoupling motion at the laparoscopic entry port [13], decoupling drive axes [16], or reducing weight and size [19].…”

A master manipulator with a remote‐center‐of‐motion kinematic structure for a minimally invasive robotic surgical system

“…Therefore, as in EndoWrist in the da Vinci system, additional joints called wrist joints are generally applied near the end‐effector of the tool. In the case of single‐port surgery, more degrees of freedom (DOFs) with elbow or shoulder joints are often implemented to overcome the more limited entrance location and the crowded workspace compared with the condition in multi‐port surgery . As the addition of joints and the tool rigidity have a trade‐off relationship related to the payload, many researchers are exploring new ways of using various materials and new joint drive mechanisms.…”

“…Unlike the slave manipulators, which were developed through various design and control methods, commercialized general‐purpose haptic devices, such as Phantom Omni (SensAble, USA), Sigma, and Omega.X series (Force Dimension, Switzerland), are frequently integrated into many systems as master devices. One of the most familiar haptic devices, Phantom Omni, was adopted by Cubrich et al . and also implemented in the Raven system .…”