Takehiko Noguchi

Development of a robotic system with six-degrees-of-freedom robotic tool manipulators for single-port surgery.

Current robotic systems have limitations for single‐port surgery (SPS) because the instruments are large, the arms collide and the field of vision requires manual readjustment. We have developed an SPS robotic system that manipulates the vision field.

Development of a smart surgical robot with bended forceps for infant congenital esophageal atresia surgery

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is commonly used in pediatric operations. This method greatly benefits patients because of the reduced surgical trauma. To perform such surgery smoothly, doctors must be highly skilled. To reduce operating difficulties, a great deal of research on surgical systems have been carried out. However, in some cases, smaller workspaces limit the application of MIS. For example, the workspace of infant congenital esophageal atresia (ICEA) surgery is only around 30×30×30 mm. Until now, most ICEA surgeries have been manually performed with traditional instruments. This paper presents a smart surgical robot (SSR) for ICEA surgery. The robot is composed of two slave arms, each consisting of a positioning manipulator and a surgical tool manipulator. The positioning manipulator uses a selective compliance assembly robot arm (SCARA) and a screw-pair mechanism to achieve translational movement in 3D space, and the surgical tool manipulator uses a “double screw drive + universal joint” structure to allow an omni directional bending motion. During surgery, the surgeon first creates the workspace manually to explore the target esophagus. The SSR system is then applied to perform operation. The configuration of the SSR means it can perform tissue manipulation under endoscopic view in a small workspace. Experimental results show that the endoscopic view permits the SSR system to be operated intuitively and accurately in the target workspace.

In vivo experiments of a surgical robot with vision field control for single port endoscopic surgery

Recently, robotics systems are focused to assist in Single Port Endoscopic Surgery (SPS). However, the existing system required a manual operation of vision and viewpoint, hindering the surgical task. We proposed a surgical endoscopic robot for SPS with dynamic vision control, the endoscopic view being manipulated by a master controller. The prototype robot consists of a manipulator for vision control, and dual tool tissue manipulators (gripping: 5DOFs, cautery: 3DOFs) can be attached at the tip of sheath manipulator. In particular, this paper focuses on an in vivo experiment. We showed that vision control in the stomach and a cautery task by a cautery tool could be effectively achieved.

Intuitive operability evaluation of robotic surgery using brain activity measurement to identify hand-eye coordination

Surgical robots have undergone considerable improvement in recent years, but the intuitive operability, representing user inter-operability, has not been quantitatively evaluated. Thus, we propose a method for measuring brain activity to determine intuitive operability in order to design a robot with intuitive operability. The objective of this paper is to clarify the angle between the endoscope and the manipulator that facilitates users perceiving the manipulator as part of their body. In the experiments, while subjects controlled the hand controller to position the tip of the virtual slave manipulator on the target in the surgical simulator, we measured the brain activity through brain imaging devices. We carried out the experiment a number of times with the virtual slave manipulator configured in a variety of ways. The results show that activation of the brain is significant with the slave manipulator configured such that the angles are slanted with respect to the horizontal. We conclude that the body image affects hand-eye coordination, which is related to visual and somatic sense feedback.

Application of control modes of a master manipulator for a robotic system to assist with single port endoscopic surgery

Recently, increased attention has been focused on single port endoscopic surgery (SPS). We have developed a robotic system for SPS with two surgical manipulators: an endoscopic manipulator and a positioning manipulator that moves the endoscope. The robot can manipulate both the position and orientation of the endoscope to achieve the desirable endoscopic field of view. Two methods can be used to operate the endoscopic view: “control corresponding to position” mode and “control corresponding to velocity” mode. Although both are widely used for moving the visual field, the operability of each method has not been examined quantitatively. Thus, we compare the operability of the two methods for adjusting the endoscopic view, and present the results and suitable applications of each method. The results of the quantitative evaluation experiments show that the “control corresponding to position” mode is suitable for short-distance or precise adjustment of the endoscope, whereas the “control corresponding to velocity” mode is better suited to long-distance movement.

Configuration of slave and endoscope in surgical robot based on brain activity measurement

Surgical robot has been considerable improvement in recent years, but their intuitive operability, representing user interoperability, has yet to be quantitatively evaluated. Thus, we propose a method for measuring brain activity to determine intuitive operability so as to design a robot with intuitive operability. The objective of this paper is to determine the angle and radius between the endoscope and the manipulator that allows users to perceive the manipulator as part of their body. In the experiments, subjects moved the hand controller to position the tip of the virtual slave manipulator on the target in the surgical simulator, measured the brain activity through brain imaging devices. The experiment was carried out a number of times with the virtual slave manipulator configured in a variety of ways. The results show that brain activation is significantly greater with a particular slave manipulator configuration. It concludes that the hand-eye coordination between the body image and the robot should be closely matched in the design of a robot with intuitive operability.

Intuitive operability evaluation of surgical robot using brain activity measurement to determine immersive reality

Surgical robots have improved considerably in recent years, but intuitive operability, which represents user inter-operability, has not been quantitatively evaluated. Therefore, for design of a robot with intuitive operability, we propose a method to measure brain activity to determine intuitive operability. The objective of this paper is to determine the master configuration against the monitor that allows users to perceive the manipulator as part of their own body. We assume that the master configuration produces an immersive reality experience for the user of putting his own arm into the monitor. In our experiments, as subjects controlled the hand controller to position the tip of the virtual slave manipulator on a target in a surgical simulator, we measured brain activity through brain-imaging devices. We performed our experiments for a variety of master manipulator configurations with the monitor position fixed. For all test subjects, we found that brain activity was stimulated significantly when the master manipulator was located behind the monitor. We conclude that this master configuration produces immersive reality through the body image, which is related to visual and somatic sense feedback.

Brain Activity Analysis for the Configurational Determination of Surgical Manipulation and Endoscope

This paper presents a novel method for evaluating a user’s feelings in a master–slave robotic surgical operation. By measuring brain activity, an engineer can quantify the user’s feelings during the operation from a cognitive science perspective. In contrast with conventional methods, the engineer can consider the user’s feelings in designing a robot with intuitive operability. The brain activity measurement method is well suited to not only surgical robots but also all master–slave robots. The objective of this paper is to determine the optimal distance between the slave and endoscope using brain activity measurement. We find that brain activity shows a significant peak when the user controls the virtual arm in a position matching the most natural hand-eye coordination.