On laparoscopic robot design and validation

Abstract

This paper presents a robotic assistant for helping surgeons in minimally invasive surgery. The system provides the direct control of the camera positioning inside the abdominal cavity, including teleoperation capabilities. This prototype does not require any modification of a standard operating room for its installation and its application in surgical procedures. The insertion point of the laparoscopic camera constitutes the most important kinematic constraint in laparoscopic techniques. In the proposed design, this has been solved with a passive wrist. A three active degrees of freedom manipulator positions the wrist. In order to demonstrate the robot suitability to develop the tasks it has been designed for, a design validation has been performed. This validation consists of simulations based on the configuration space concept. Finally, trials with alive animals have been carried out in an experimental operating theatre.