Da Vinci robot at Hospital Clinic. Manoeuvrability devices and performance in robotic tech

Abstract

Robot-assisted surgical systems are becoming increasingly common in medical procedures as they embrace many of the benefits of minimally invasive surgery including less trauma, recovery time and financial costs associated to the treatment after surgery. These robotic systems allow the surgeons to navigate within confined spaces where an operator’s human hand would normally be greatly limited. This dexterity is further strengthened through motion scaling, which translates large motions by the operator into diminutive actions of the robotic end effector. An example of this is the Da Vinci System which is coupled to the EndoWrist end effector tool. Nevertheless, these systems also have some drawbacks such as the high cost of the surgery itself and the lack of tactile or haptic feedback. This means that as the surgeon is performing the procedures outside the patient’s body, he/she can not feel the resistance of the human tissue’s when cutting. Therefore, one can risk damaging healthy tissues if force is not controlled or, when sewing, one can exert an exaggerated force and break the thread. In this project, a new system is created based on the UR5 robot (Universal Robots) and an EndoWrist needle to mimic the behaviour of the Da Vinci System and implement some improvements regarding the manoeuvrability and haptic feedback performance.