Robotic control of the traditional endoscopic instrumentation motion

Abstract

This paper deals with the development of a special 3+1 Degrees of Freedom (DOFs) end effector used to control the standard laparoscopic instrumentation's positioning and actuation during laparoscopic surgery. Nowadays, the robotic system da Vinci is the most used robot in the laparoscopic surgery field. The cost of this robot is very high, which limits its spread in hospitals. Moreover, this robot can use only customized tools, called endoWrist, to perform the laparoscopic surgery. This instruments are, however, very expensive and can be used only for few operations, increasing the required economical efforts. The aim of our research is to create an end effector, supported by a navigator arm, able to manipulate standard laparoscopic instruments in order to reduce the cost of the robotic surgery, while keeping most of the advantages introduced by the other robotic systems. The particular structure of the end effector proposed here makes it possible to create a virtual spherical wrist at the insertion point. This solution allows to have the mobility needed to perform the surgery and to avoid excessive stress to the patient skin. The main disadvantage is represented by the DOFs of the standard laparoscopic tools that are less than in the endoWrists. However, the proposed end effector allows to manipulate standard laparoscopic tools smaller than customized robotic instruments, which is a fundamental feature in neonatal and paediatric surgery. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010.