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The problem of cooling in rescue robots is similar to that of the entire domain of product development involving electronic systems. When considering mission-oriented rescue robots, this issue becomes more severe, as the tolerance to failure is remarkably low. While cooling is considered indispensable, the hazardous environmental condition of the scene of deployment, comprising of water, dust, toxic gases, or fire, constrains the choices of the method. Hence, the usage of the atmospheric air intake for cooling purposes, which is prevalent among conventional cooling systems within robotics and electronics, may not be viable, demanding a control-volume cooling system. However, such methods involving active elements might be detrimental to energy consumption and ultimately to the rescue mission, since robots in these scenarios have to operate with limited energy availability. Therefore, considering these particular problems associated with rescue robots, this paper introduces and discusses the relevance of thermoelectric cooling in rescue robot systems employed in real-time rescue scenarios. Furthermore, to optimize the energy consumption cost, this paper proposes the use of Model Predictive Control (MPC) as the appropriate temperature control method for the thermoelectric element. The analysis includes Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)-based cooling analysis of the robot along with the comparative analyses of uncontrolled cooling and controlled cooling under different available control methods. The results suggest sufficient cooling performance along with optimum energy consumption for the proposed model when compared with other available scenarios, based on different parameters of performance.

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Laparoscopic procedures have become indispensable in gastrointestinal surgery. As a minimally invasive process, it begins with primary trocar insertion. However, this step poses the threat of injuries to the gastrointestinal tract and blood vessels. As such, the comprehension of the insertion process is crucial to the development of robotic-assisted/automated surgeries. To sustain robotic development, this research aims to study the interactive force/torque (F/T) behavior between the trocar and the abdomen during the trocar insertion process. For force/torque (F/T) data acquisition, a trocar interfaced with a six-axis F/T sensor was used by surgeons for the insertion. The study was conducted during five abdominal hernia surgical cases in the Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University. The real-time F/T data were further processed and analyzed. The fluctuation in the force/torque (F/T) parameter was significant, with peak force ranging from 16.83 N to 61.86 N and peak torque ranging from 0.552 Nm to 1.76 Nm. The force parameter was observed to positively correlate with procedural time, while torque was found to be negatively correlated. Although during the process a surgeon applied force and torque in multiple axes, for a robotic system, the push and turn motion in a single axis was observed to be sufficient. For minimal tissue damage in less procedural time, a system with low push force and high torque was observed to be advantageous. These understandings will eventually benefit the development of computer-assisted or robotics technology to improve the outcome of the primary trocar insertion procedure.