Design of the Dexterous Manipulator for Minimally Invasive Surgery

Design of the Dexterous Manipulator for Minimally Invasive Surgery

  Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) is carried out in the chest, abdomen, spine and pelvis, by using a viewing scope and special surgical tools. Benefits of minimally invasive surgery are less pain, less need for post-surgical pain medication, less scarring and less likelihood for incisional complications. Since the late 1980"s, minimally invasive surgery has gained widespread acceptance because of these advantages. However there are significant disadvantages also, such as the limited usability of the minimal invasive techniques. The reasons are limited degree-of-freedom, reduced dexterity and the lack of tactile feeling. To overcome such disadvantages many researchers have endeavored to develop robotic systems. Even though some robot aided systems achieved success and commercialized, there still remain many thing to be improved. In this paper, the robotic system which can mimic whole motions of a human arm by adding additional DOF is presented. The suggested design is expected to provide surgeons with improved dexterity during minimally invasive surgery.