Abstract
Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is a surgical technique that facilitates access to the internal tissues and organs of a patient’s body via a limited number of small incisions or natural orifice of the patients. Such a technique requires specialized slender surgical instruments with a high levels of dexterity and functionality. However, the currently available MIS instruments are rigid and could offer only limited degrees of freedom (DOFs) that hampers the surgeon’s effort to perform the required operation accurately. In this study, we have developed a hybrid electromagnetic and tendon-driven actuator as an integral part of MIS surgical instruments to provide them with optimum angulation. The design uses a novel electromagnetic structure to lock the position of individual joints, and a tendon-driven structure for the articulation of the surgical instrument. The finite element method (FEM) was utilized to predict the performance of the actuator, which was experimentally validated. Subsequently, a prototype was assembled, and corresponding kinematics analysis was presented to visualize the improvement of the developed mechanism on the functional workspace of the MIS instruments. It was concluded that the developed mechanism could offer three additional DOFs for the surgical instrument and angulation of 180° for each articulated joint.
Highlights
Owing to the small size of the incisions, minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has many advantages, such as reduced trauma, less risk of wound infections, minimal postoperative pain, shorter hospitalization stay, and earlier return-to-normal activities, over traditional open surgery [1,2].MIS has become increasingly popular and accepted by the general public in recent years
The tendon-driven actuator requires a pair of wires to control each degree of freedom (DOF)
We presented an example in which each of the tendons passes through a sheathing channel located at 90 from the hinge of the swiveling component, which gives the MIS instrument an additional three DOFs movement in different directions
Summary
Owing to the small size of the incisions, minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has many advantages, such as reduced trauma, less risk of wound infections, minimal postoperative pain, shorter hospitalization stay, and earlier return-to-normal activities, over traditional open surgery [1,2].MIS has become increasingly popular and accepted by the general public in recent years. Confined surgical space and limited flexibility of the surgical tools lead to the lack of instrument triangulation, an inherent problem of all MIS techniques, which renders certain MIS tasks very difficult and time-consuming [3,4]. Many articulated actuators, such as tendon-driven actuators, have been developed to solve this problem and enhance the dexterity of the MIS instruments [5]. These actuators have been widely adopted in various surgical systems, including the Da Vinci surgical robot [6]. The tendon-driven actuator requires a pair of wires to control each degree of freedom (DOF)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
