Co-Planar Stereotaxic Atlas of the Human Brain—3-Dimensional Proportional System: An Approach to Cerebral Imaging, J. Talairach, P. Tournoux. Georg Thieme Verlag, New York (1988), 122 pp., 130 figs. DM 268

In this paper, we describe the state of the art in continuum robot manipulators and systems intended for application to interventional medicine. Inspired by biological trunks, tentacles, and snakes, continuum robot designs can traverse confined spaces, manipulate objects in complex environments, and conform to curvilinear paths in space. In addition, many designs offer inherent structural compliance and ease of miniaturization. After decades of pioneering research, a host of designs have now been investigated and have demonstrated capabilities beyond the scope of conventional rigid-link robots. Recently, we have seen increasing efforts aimed at leveraging these qualities to improve the frontiers of minimally invasive surgical interventions. Several concepts have now been commercialized, which are inspiring and enabling a current paradigm shift in surgical approaches toward flexible access routes, e.g., through natural orifices such as the nose. In this paper, we provide an overview of the current state of this field from the perspectives of both robotics science and medical applications. We discuss relevant research in design, modeling, control, and sensing for continuum manipulators, and we highlight how this work is being used to build robotic systems for specific surgical procedures. We provide perspective for the future by discussing current limitations, open questions, and challenges.

Continuum Robots for Medical Applications: A Survey

Small-scale soft continuum robots capable of active steering and navigation in a remotely controllable manner hold great promise in diverse areas, particularly in medical applications. Existing continuum robots, however, are often limited to millimeter or centimeter scales due to miniaturization challenges inherent in conventional actuation mechanisms, such as pulling mechanical wires, inflating pneumatic or hydraulic chambers, or embedding rigid magnets for manipulation. In addition, the friction experienced by the continuum robots during navigation poses another challenge for their applications. Here, we present a submillimeter-scale, self-lubricating soft continuum robot with omnidirectional steering and navigating capabilities based on magnetic actuation, which are enabled by programming ferromagnetic domains in its soft body while growing hydrogel skin on its surface. The robot's body, composed of a homogeneous continuum of a soft polymer matrix with uniformly dispersed ferromagnetic microparticles, can be miniaturized below a few hundreds of micrometers in diameter, and the hydrogel skin reduces the friction by more than 10 times. We demonstrate the capability of navigating through complex and constrained environments, such as a tortuous cerebrovascular phantom with multiple aneurysms. We further demonstrate additional functionalities, such as steerable laser delivery through a functional core incorporated in the robot's body. Given their compact, self-contained actuation and intuitive manipulation, our ferromagnetic soft continuum robots may open avenues to minimally invasive robotic surgery for previously inaccessible lesions, thereby addressing challenges and unmet needs in healthcare.

Ferromagnetic soft continuum robots

IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) におけるフルードパワー技術の研究動向

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jsprs1975/37/6/37_6_39/_pdf

1998 IEEE International Conference on SMCに参加して

A position planning strategy based on dexterity and manipulability is proposed for meeting laparoscopic robot's requirement in minimally invasive surgery. Robot moves laparoscope to the desired point and not to interfere with surgical term. In order to demonstrate position planning method to develop tasks it has been designed for, simulation based on concept of configuration space and position planning strategy has been performed, and angle variation of each joints have been presented in virtual environment. Results verify the effectiveness of proposed position planning strategy.

Position Planning for Laparoscopic Robot in Minimally Invasive Surgery

A dynamic control approach in task space is proposed for trajectory tracking problem of free-floating space manipulator without controlling the pose of the spacecraft. Based on the extended manipulator model, the dynamic equation of the system is derived. The dynamic parameters needed by the dynamic control in task space could be estimated by the off-line adaptive identification method. The presented control scheme guarantees asymptotic tracking of the desired end-effector trajectory and does not require measurement of the joint accelerations. Simulation results given show the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method.

A dynamic control method for free-floating space manipulator in task space

This paper presented a medical robot system for celiac minimally invasive surgery (MIS). A new mechanism was proposed to realize two-dimensional remote center of motion (RCM) with simple structure, and surgical instruments without coupled motion were designed, which greatly improved the performance and manipulability of the robot. The system worked in master-slave control mode. According to the configurations of the robot and the master manipulator developed by the Force Dimension Company, a new method for inverse kinematics solution with error compensation of repetitive feedback was proposed with one solution and satisfactory accuracy. The validity of the system had been proved through animal experiments.

A medical robot system for celiac minimally invasive surgery

A metamorphic knuckle mechanism of a snake-imitation rescuing robot comprises a knuckle left end cover, a knuckle right end cover, two RRPRR branches and one RRPRR metamorphic branch. Metamorphic knuckles have two mechanism forms, and the work space and mobility can be changed. In the mechanism form I, a movable pair P in the RRPRR metamorphic branch is in an active moving state, a rotation pair R is in a following state, and then the knuckles have one moving freedom degree and two rotating freedom degrees. In the mechanism form II, the movable pair P in the RRPRR metamorphic branch is in a minimum displacement and locking state, the rotation pair R is in an active state, the knuckles are changed into parallel spherical knuckles in a metamorphic manner, and three rotation freedom degrees are achieved. The metamorphic knuckle mechanism has the beneficial effects of being good in flexibility, high in bearing capability and good in structural robustness and is suitable for the snake-imitation rescuing robot. By means of mutual cooperation of the two mechanism forms of the multiple metamorphic knuckles, the flexibility and adaptability of the snake-imitation rescuing robot under different environments can be effectively improved.

Metamorphic knuckle mechanism of snake-imitation rescuing robot

This paper designs a hydraulic-actuated biped robot including the aspects of mechanical structure and gait planning. Referring to skeleton structure of human, we designed a 3D biped robot model. The robot has 12 degrees of freedom. Each freedom covers the range of motion in human walking. Based on the loaded inverted pendulum model, stable walking gait is planned. Mathematical relationship between joint trajectory and walking parameters is obtained. Finally, walking simulation is made to verify the feasibility of gait planning and rationality of mechanical design. ANSYS has been used to check stress in important parts. The force curves of hydraulic piston rodsare also obtained by simulation which provides reference to select hydraulic components and build a physical prototype.

Yili Fu

Papers

Position Planning for Laparoscopic Robot in Minimally Invasive Surgery

A dynamic control method for free-floating space manipulator in task space

A medical robot system for celiac minimally invasive surgery

Metamorphic knuckle mechanism of snake-imitation rescuing robot

Mechanical design and gait plan of a hydraulic-actuated biped robot