Abstract
This paper presents a fast numerical solution for the inverse kinematics of a serial manipulator. The method is implemented on the C-arm, a manipulator designed for use in robotic surgery. The inverse kinematics solution provides all possible solutions for any six degree-of-freedom serial manipulator, assuming that the forward kinematics are known and that it is possible to solve for the remaining joint angles if one joint angle’s value is known. With a fast numerical method and the current levels of computing power, designing a manipulator with closed-form inverse kinematics is no longer necessary. When designing the C-arm, we therefore chose to weigh other factors, such as actuator size and patient safety, more heavily than the ability to find a closed-form inverse kinematics solution.
Highlights
Since the mid-1980s, the use of robots in surgery has slowly gained popularity
The final C-arm design was chosen because it best met the requirements dictated by its use in surgery, but does not have a known closed-form inverse kinematics solution
This paper presents a numerical inverse kinematics solution that eliminates many of the drawbacks of traditional numerical inverse kinematics methods
Summary
Since the mid-1980s, the use of robots in surgery has slowly gained popularity. With systems present in hospitals around the world, the FDA-approved da Vinci R , from Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (Sunnyvale, CA), is arguably the most wellknown surgical robot (Guthart and Salisbury 2000). The BioRobotics Lab’s Raven surgical robot is designed for minimally invasive surgery (MIS) and covers the surgical field while minimising the amount of space occupied over and around the patient. The final C-arm design was chosen because it best met the requirements dictated by its use in surgery, but does not have a known closed-form inverse kinematics solution. Since Moore’s law has held up for the past 20 years, we can perform calculations between 3 and 4 orders of magnitude faster than we could 20 years ago This substantial increase in our computing abilities, coupled with our new method, eliminates most or all of the practical objections to numerical solutions of inverse kinematics
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
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 call
