Heart of microsurgery

Abstract

Creating telerobots that can work at the scale and precision demanded by minimally invasive surgery requires a careful understanding of the task and its environment, and the fundamental development of new telerobotic technology. One robotic surgical tool combines the highly mobile four-degree-of-freedom EndoWrist and a three-degree-of-freedom robot for large range of motion to provide the surgeon with access to task orientations and locations. During telesurgery with the intuitive system, the surgical team can utilize `dynamic assignment,' that is, one surgeon can theoretically manipulate one arm, leave it in place, then switch his attention to another arm. Telesurgery can also be performed in team surgery.