Pneumatic-type surgical robot end-effector for laparoscopic surgical-operation-by-wire

Abstract

BackgroundAlthough minimally invasive surgery (MIS) affords several advantages compared to conventional open surgery, robotic MIS systems still have many limitations. One of the limitations is the non-uniform gripping force due to mechanical strings of the existing systems. To overcome this limitation, a surgical instrument with a pneumatic gripping system consisting of a compressor, catheter balloon, micro motor, and other parts is developed.MethodThis study aims to implement a surgical instrument with a pneumatic gripping system and pitching/yawing joints using micro motors and without mechanical strings based on the surgical-operation-by-wire (SOBW) concept. A 6-axis external arm for increasing degrees of freedom (DOFs) is integrated with the surgical instrument using LabVIEW® for laparoscopic procedures. The gripping force is measured over a wide range of pressures and compared with the simulated ideal step function. Furthermore, a kinematic analysis is conducted. To validate and evaluate the system’s clinical applicability, a simple peg task experiment and workspace identification experiment are performed with five novice volunteers using the fundamentals of laparoscopic surgery (FLS) board kit. The master interface of the proposed system employs the hands-on-throttle-and-stick (HOTAS) controller used in aerospace engineering. To develop an improved HOTAS (iHOTAS) controller, 6-axis force/torque sensor was integrated in the special housing.ResultsThe mean gripping force (after 1,000 repetitions) at a pressure of 0.3 MPa was measured to be 5.8 N. The reaction time was found to be 0.4 s, which is almost real-time. All novice volunteers could complete the simple peg task within a mean time of 176 s, and none of them exceeded the 300 s cut-off time. The system’s workspace was calculated to be 11,157.0 cm3.ConclusionsThe proposed pneumatic gripping system provides a force consistent with that of other robotic MIS systems. It provides near real-time control. It is more durable than the existing other surgical robot systems. Its workspace is sufficient for clinical surgery. Therefore, the proposed system is expected to be widely used for laparoscopic robotic surgery. This research using iHOTAS will be applied to the tactile force feedback system for surgeon’s safe operation.

Multi-DOF (Degree of Freedom) Articulating Laparoscopic Instrument is an Effective Device in Performing Challenging Sutures

“…There are various ongoing attempts to integrate tactile sense into the laparoscopic instruments such as pneumatic, acoustic reflection, and Stochastic resonance, but no actual product has come out yet. [8][9][10] Some articulating laparoscopic devices with increased freedom of movement are already in the market. However, most products have been unsuccessful.…”

Recent technological advancements in laparoscopic surgical instruments

“…graspers, forceps) itself that come with it. Some research focused on the gripping system like the one by Lee et al [20] in 2014. It was designed and implemented a pneumatic gripping system that solves the non-uniform gripping force of existing systems.…”

A development of assistant surgical robot system based on surgical-operation-by-wire and hands-on-throttle-and-stick

“…Conventional minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has become one of the most advocated surgical operation approach because it offers benefits such as low blood loss, reduced time to drain removal, shorter hospital stay, better pain score, fewer follow-ups, smaller incision, and reduced complication rate than open surgery [ 1 , 2 ]. However, MIS has the following disadvantages: (i) operating time is relatively longer than that of conventional open surgery and (ii) because the degrees of freedom (DOFs) of the surgical instrument is low, surgical operations such as suturing are difficult for inexpert surgeons to perform, resulting in the need for highly-trained surgeons to perform surgical operations [ 3 , 4 ].…”

“…Further, a wireless controller is developed for simultaneous control of the operating robot arm and the assistant robot arm, thereby preventing discontinuous surgical operation. The assistant robot arm consists of 6-DOFs external robot arm and a surgical instrument developed based on the surgical-operation-by-wire (SOBW) concept that has been reported in our previous study [ 2 , 19 ]. SOBW was inspired by the fly-by-wire (FBW) system in aerospace engineering, in which the wing control is based on electrical wires for reliable control [ 20 ], instead of a mechanical wires [ 21 – 24 ].…”

“…A novel master interface (NMI), a wireless communication interface for the assistant robot arm, was developed to simultaneously control the assistant robot arm and the operation robot arm in order to avoid the surgeon having to stop the operation robot arm to manipulate the assistant robot arm. The NMI is based on the hands-on-throttle-and-stick (HOTAS) controller, which is widely used in aerospace for flight control [ 2 ]. The concept of HOTAS controller has been reported in our previous study [ 2 , 25 ].…”