Design of 3D-Printed Flexible Joints With Presettable Stiffness for Surgical Robots

Feng, Fan; Hong, Wuzhou; Xie, Le

doi:10.1109/access.2020.2991092

Cited by 19 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…The latter can also prevent the blood or tissue contact with the monolithic CRCJ structure, in which the gap between flexure straps and cylinder cams can cause critical issues during surgery. Using metallic material can further improve the stiffness and the repeat accuracy of the proposed manipulator [ 11 ]. Metallic additive manufacturing can be used to fabricate application-oriented prototype.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A long-term stability of this system was evaluated in [ 10 ], showing the suitability for use as disposable surgical manipulator system. Feng et al developed a spring-like flexible joint which was manufactured using selective laser melting (SLM) technology [ 11 ]. A metallic 3D printed flexible joint with helical spring-like structure was proposed by Hu et al [ 12 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Design of a novel tendon-driven manipulator structure based on monolithic compliant rolling-contact joint for minimally invasive surgery

2021

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Purpose Compliant mechanisms are commonly used in the design of manipulator and surgical robotic tools for minimally invasive surgery (MIS) thanks to their compactness, ability of miniaturization and lower part count. However, conventional compliant joint has higher internal stiffness, which limits the bending radius. To overcome this problem, a novel tendon-driven manipulator structure based on monolithic compliant rolling-contact joint (CRCJ) is proposed. Methods The proposed rolling-contact mechanism is used to prevent cable slack during actuation, which occurs in conventional compliant joint design. By means of selective laser sintering (SLS) technique, the CRCJ can be fabricated in a monolithic structure, thus granting the CRCJ both the advantages of compliant joints and rolling-contact mechanism. Simulations with nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) and experiments were conducted to evaluate and compare the mechanical properties of the proposed CRCJ with conventional leaf-type compliant joint including the bending and compliant motion. Results Experimental results showed that the CRCJ has lower bending stiffness, higher maximum bending angle (over $$180^{\circ }$$ 180 ∘ ) and a higher compliance compared to conventional compliant hinges, which allows a larger workspace and reduces the possibility of tissue injury. Agreement was also found between the nonlinear FEA and experiments regarding the relation between actuation force and bending angle. A primary prototype of a 3-DOF handheld laparoscopic manipulator with a diameter of 7 mm was further developed. Conclusion A dexterous tendon-driven monolithic manipulator structure based on CRCJ for MIS is proposed. A preliminary prototype of a handheld laparoscopic manipulator demonstrates the capability of the CRCJ for steerable medical devices. However, design improvements based on FEA and application-orientated prototypes considering anatomical requirements still show room for improvements.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design of a novel tendon-driven manipulator structure based on monolithic compliant rolling-contact joint for minimally invasive surgery

2021

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“…As shown in Fig. 1, our previous study 31 proposed the structural design of a tendon-driven flexible helical joint for a CM, in which we also performed its kinematics and static modeling. The functional relation of the tendons' displacements and tensions to the deflection angle of the flexible joint was obtained as follows: where E and G are the modulus and shear modulus of elasticity, respectively.…”

Section: Problem Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A learning-based tip contact force estimation method for tendon-driven continuum manipulator

Feng

Hong

Xie

2021

Sci Rep

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Although tendon-driven continuum manipulators have been extensively researched, how to realize tip contact force sensing in a more general and efficient way without increasing the diameter is still a challenge. Rather than use a complex modeling approach, this paper proposes a general tip contact force-sensing method based on a recurrent neural network that takes the tendons’ position and tension as the input of a recurrent neural network and the tip contact force of the continuum manipulator as the output and fits this static model by means of machine learning so that it may be used as a real-time contact force estimator. We also designed and built a corresponding three-degree-of-freedom contact force data acquisition platform based on the structure of a continuum manipulator designed in our previous studies. After obtaining training data, we built and compared the performances of a multi-layer perceptron-based contact force estimator as a baseline and three typical recurrent neural network-based contact force estimators through TensorFlow framework to verify the feasibility of this method. We also proposed a manually decoupled sub-estimators algorithm and evaluated the advantages and disadvantages of those two methods.

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“…Piezoelectric materials are also widely used as transducers [146]. In soft and continuum robotics, several works developed actuators based on pull wires/tendon [147][148][149] or concentric tubes [150]. Qiu et al [151] proposed an untethered rigid robot driven by accoustic waves [151].…”

Section: Other Mechanical Transducersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Programmable Stimuli-Responsive Actuators for Complex Motions in Soft Robotics: Concept, Design and Challenges

et al. 2020

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During the last years, great progress was made in material science in terms of concept, design and fabrication of new composite materials with conferred properties and desired functionalities. The scientific community paid particular interest to active soft materials, such as soft actuators, for their potential as transducers responding to various stimuli aiming to produce mechanical work. Inspired by this, materials engineers today are developing multidisciplinary approaches to produce new active matters, focusing on the kinematics allowed by the material itself more than on the possibilities offered by its design. Traditionally, more complex motions beyond pure elongation and bending are addressed by the robotics community. The present review targets encompassing and rationalizing a framework which will help a wider scientific audience to understand, sort and design future soft actuators and methods enabling complex motions. Special attention is devoted to recent progress in developing innovative stimulus-responsive materials and approaches for complex motion programming for soft robotics. In this context, a challenging overview of the new materials as well as their classification and comparison (performances and characteristics) are proposed. In addition, the great potential of soft transducers are outlined in terms of kinematic capabilities, illustrated by the related application. Guidelines are provided to design actuators and to integrate asymmetry enabling motions along any of the six basic degrees of freedom (translations and rotations), and strategies towards the programming of more complex motions are discussed. As a final note, a series of manufacturing methods are described and compared, from molding to 3D and 4D printing. The review ends with a Perspectives section, from material science and microrobotic points of view, on the soft materials’ future and close future challenges to be overcome.

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Design of 3D-Printed Flexible Joints With Presettable Stiffness for Surgical Robots

Cited by 19 publications

References 40 publications

Design of a novel tendon-driven manipulator structure based on monolithic compliant rolling-contact joint for minimally invasive surgery

Design of a novel tendon-driven manipulator structure based on monolithic compliant rolling-contact joint for minimally invasive surgery

A learning-based tip contact force estimation method for tendon-driven continuum manipulator

Programmable Stimuli-Responsive Actuators for Complex Motions in Soft Robotics: Concept, Design and Challenges

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