Simple noninterference mechanism between the pitch and yaw axes for a wrist mechanism to be employed in robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery

Abstract

Laparoscopic surgery, which is also called minimally invasive surgery, is a surgical technique that is associated with accelerated post-operative recovery. However, it can only be performed by surgeons possessing advanced surgical skills. One of the main challenges in laparoscopic surgery is the restriction of the free motion of forceps because of the limited degrees of freedom imposed by the trocar. Recently, to overcome this problem, many master-slave manipulators with articulated forceps have been used in laparoscopic surgery. The wrist mechanism of the articulated forceps affects the controllability and range of motion of the slave manipulator in the abdominal cavity of a patient. Therefore, improvement of the wrist mechanism of the articulated forceps is important for robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery. This study proposes a new wrist mechanism for using articulated forceps in laparoscopic surgery. The degrees of freedom of the proposed design are provided by motor-driven or manually driven axes employing various wires and pulleys (pitch, yaw, and gripper axes). The kinematic model of this mechanism is decoupled between the pitch axis and yaw axis by a very simple mechanism using arc-shaped guides and wire guide holes. The arc-shaped guides minimize the wire path length error of the yaw and gripper axis wire resulting from the motion of the pitch axis. The optimized position of the arc-shaped guides is decided by the minimal root-mean-square value of the wire path length error. The proposed wrist mechanism has only half the number of parts as compared to the previously developed robotic forceps for clinical use. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the proposed mechanism was demonstrated on a prototype model with a maximum outer diameter of 7.5 mm. Conversely, the disadvantages of the proposed mechanism lie in the transmission mechanism efficiency and no-load input torque. which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.1. Increase in the motion range of the actuators.

Surgical Microgrippers: A Survey and Analysis

“…Makoto [101] proposed a noninterference wrist mechanism between the pitch and yaw axes for robotassisted forceps for laparoscopic surgery. The maximum outer diameter was 7.5 mm, the total length of its jaws of 14.3 mm, and a range of motion on the gripper axis of 90°.…”

Development of a tendon driven robotic probe for prostate palpation

“…Non-movable guide arcs lead to a simpler construction of the tool wrist and reduce the number of moving components. A similar design concept of guide arcs has been used in the wrist mechanism for robot assisted laparoscopic surgery [18].Furthermore, attached to the distal end of the probe is a disposable probe head which serves as a contact material between the probe and the prostate.…”

OpenRST: An Open Platform for Customizable 3D Printed Cable-Driven Robotic Surgical Tools

“…Podolsky et al [25] proposed the use of stationary guide arcs for the design of the wrist of tools. This idea was further explored in [26] and [27]. Jinno [26] proposed a non-interference mechanism to decouple pitch and yaw joints consisting of optimized arc-shaped guides.…”

“…This idea was further explored in [26] and [27]. Jinno [26] proposed a non-interference mechanism to decouple pitch and yaw joints consisting of optimized arc-shaped guides. Chandrasekaran and Thondiyath [27] followed a similar approach but considered a guide rod and the principle of the law of belting in their arc-shaped optimization.…”