Improvements to the Design of a Compact Robot for Minimally Invasive Surgery

Surgical manipulation has been successfully demonstrated using a robotic spherical serial mechanism (called CoBRASurge) having a remote center of rotation driven through a compact bevel-geared system. This cost-effective prototype confirmed surgical robots do not have to be large and expensive machines to operate effectively. After testing and assessing the device, several key design changes were proposed for a second CoBRASurge robot, which would significantly increase the overall effectiveness of the device. These design changes were found after considering the following desirable characteristics: reliability, compactness, precision, protection from contamination, and flexibility in initial setup. These redesign characteristics led to improvements including an increase in gear transmission accuracy by decreasing gear module, implementation of a motor housing to protect against outside contamination, a new rack and pinion driving assembly for a more robust tool translation, decreased volume and weight for ease of use and overall effectiveness, and a new mounting system for a quicker and easier initial setup process. It is believed that these features will further allow the operating surgeon to more effectively complete tasks in less time, and with increased ease as compared with current laparoscopic surgery techniques, while also making multirobot cooperating interventions more feasible.