Smart Units to Support Competitive Design of Control Systems in Surgical Robotics

Abstract

AbstractSurgical robots consist of complex mechanical and control architectures in order to ensure high precision and safety in operation. Advanced force and torque feedback control is indispensable in this respect; therefore, enhanced embedded intelligence is necessary within surgical robotic systems. Smart units (sensors, actuators, etc.), able to intelligently interact with the process, as well as to communicate between them accordingly, should be part of this construction. A novel concept of building inexpensive smart units by integrating software and basic hardware (electronic) structures, that are further networked in master–slave architectures of microcontrollers, and with capabilities of plug-and-play, fast self-configuration, reconfiguration and upgrading in both hardware and intelligence, is introduced in this paper. This allows engineers to design and shape new reliable surgical robot systems in a time and cost effective manner by using the “probe (rapid prototype)-test-evaluate-learn-refine” methodology. A case study exemplifies the innovative concept of smart unit network. The results on the prototype verify that engineers can rely on this solution for constructing and testing in a competitive way (shorter time, lower costs, and higher quality) different design variants of surgical robot topologies and control systems they sketch, model and simulate in the conceptual phase.KeywordsSmart sensorsSmart actuatorsPlug-and-playFast adaptable control unitEmbedded intelligenceSurgical roboticsCompetitive designPTELR methodology