Design and simulation of a robotic manipulator for laparoscopic uterine surgeries

Abstract

Robotic assistants are introduced in laparoscopic surgeries to achieve assistant-less solo surgery. Robotic Uterine Manipulator (RUM) was developed to substitute the assistant doctor who handles the uterine positioner on command of the main surgeon. In the proposed setup, the main surgeon can control the positioner at the patient’s bedside via intuitive gestures through the LEAP® Motion Controller (LMC) allowing sterile and touchless operation. A Five Degrees of Freedom (DOF) serial manipulator is designed to mimic the four motions carried out by the assistant doctor. Remote Center of Motion (RCM) of the manipulator is fixed at the cervix of the patient to allow rotation at the cervix and avoid damage to surrounding body tissue. The workspace of the robot was identified to be a spherical sector with the RCM as the center. Linkage topologies were optimized in order to minimize joint torques. Simulations were performed in the CoppeliaSim environment to prove the kinematics model.