A review of continuum robots for surgical applications

Abstract

The design of continuum robots is inspired by biological trunks, tentacles, and snakes, allowing them to navigate through some confined spaces, manipulate objects in the unstructured environments, and follow curvilinear paths. In recent decades, a wide range of designs of continuum robots have been explored and have illustrated capabilities that go beyond rigid-link robots. We have witnessed increasing efforts to use these characteristics to improve minimally invasive surgical interventions in recent years. In this paper, we summarize the key technologies and several applications of continuum robots in the surgical field. We also define the key performance index to evaluate the performance of continuum robots in the surgical field. By discussing challenges to be overcome before the potential of continuum robots as surgical devices can be fulfilled, we propose some future directions for the continuum robobts.