Tom Frederick

Kinematic and Workspace Comparison of Four and Five Degree of Freedom Miniature In Vivo Surgical Robot

The adoption of Laparo-Endoscopic Single-Site Surgery (LESS) provides potential for surgical procedures to be performed with the use of a single incision into the peritoneal cavity. Benefits of this technique include faster recovery times, decreased chance of infection, and improved cosmetic results as compared to traditional surgery. Current technology in this area relies on multiple laparoscopic tools which are inserted into the peritoneal cavity through a specialized port, resulting in poor visualization, limited dexterity, and unintuitive controls occur. To mitigate these problems, this research group is developing a multi-functional, two-armed miniature in vivo surgical robot with a remote user interface for use in LESS. While this platform’s feasibility has been demonstrated in multiple nonsurvival surgeries in porcine models, including four cholecystectomies, previous prototypes have been too large to be inserted through a single incision. Work is currently being performed to reduce the overall size of the robot while increasing dexterity. Using the knowledge gained from the development of a four degree of freedom (DOF) miniature in vivo surgical robot, another robot prototype was designed which was smaller, yet was able to utilize five DOF instead of four. The decreased size of the five DOF robot allows it to be completely inserted into the peritoneal cavity through a single incision for use in LESS. Each arm of the surgical robot is inserted independently before being mated together and attached to a central control rod. Once inserted, this platform allows for gross repositioning of the robot to provide surgical capabilities in all four quadrants of the abdominal cavity by rotating the control rod. The additional degree of freedom allows for reaching positions in the surgical workspace from varied angles. This paper will provide a comparison of the four DOF and five DOF miniature in vivo surgical robots. The implications of the added degree of freedom on the forward and inverse kinematics will be discussed and the workspace of each robot will be compared. Additionally, the increased complexity of the control system for the remote surgical interface in moving from four DOF to five DOF will be demonstrated. Finally, results from non-survival procedures using a porcine model will be presented for both robots. This comparison will provide useful information for further development of miniature in vivo surgical robots as the goals of decreased size and improved dexterity are approached. INTRODUCTION Performing surgery using long instruments while working through small incisions in the abdominal wall, such as in laparoscopy, offers recognized patient advantages including shortened recovery times, improved cosmetics, and reduced expense. While replacing a large open incision with three to five small incisions offers significant patient advantages, continuing work focuses on further reducing the invasiveness of surgical procedures. Laparo-Endoscopic Single-Site surgery (LESS) is a new alternative to laparoscopic procedures that completely eliminates all but one small external incision. Existing methods for performing LESS use multiple articulating, bent, or flexible laparoscopic instruments that are inserted into the abdominal cavity through a single specialized

Telesurgery with miniature robots to leverage surgical expertise in distributed expeditionary environments

This study aimed to evaluate the capability of performing telesurgery via radio transmission for military arenas where wired internet connections may not be practical. Most existing robotic surgery systems are too large to effectively deploy with first responders. The miniature surgical platform in this study consists of a multifunctional robot suite that can fit easily into a briefcase. METHODS The focus of this study is to explore the implications of radio control of the robot. The hypothesis is that an in vivo robot and its control boards can be controlled using off-the-shelf wireless components. An experiment was designed with off-the-shelf wireless components to test the capability of our newest generation of miniature surgical robot to become battery-operated and wireless. RESULTS Wireless transmission of control signals has provided proof of concept and has exposed areas of the software that can be built upon to improve responsiveness. Wireless transmission of the video feed can be adequately performed with basic off-the-shelf components.

Multi-quadrant surgical robot for single incision laparoscopic colectomy

Colorectal surgery is an area of active research within general surgery. However, over 80% of these procedures currently require an open surgery based on the size and location of the tumor. The current state-of-the-art surgical instruments are unintuitive, restricted by the incision site, and often require timely repositioning tasks during complex surgical procedures. A multi-quadrant miniature in vivo surgical robot has been developed to mitigate these limitations as well as the invasiveness of colorectal procedures. By reducing invasiveness, the patient benefits from improved cosmetics, decreased postoperative pain, faster recovery time, and reduced financial burden. A paradigm shift in invasiveness is often inversely proportional to surgeon benefits. Yet, through the use of a robotic device, the surgeon benefits from improved ergonomics, intuitive control, and fewer required repositioning tasks. This paper presents a two armed robotic device that can be controlled from a remote surgical interface. Each arm has six internally actuated degrees of freedom, decoupling the system from the incision site. Each arm is also equipped with a specialized interchangeable end effector. For the surgical procedure, visual feedback is provided through the use of a standard laparoscope with incorporated light source. The robotic device is introduced into the abdominal cavity through a hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery (HALS) port that is placed within the navel. The device is then grossly positioned to the site of interest within the abdominal cavity through the use of a protruding rod that is rigidly attached to each arm. The surgeon can then begin to manipulate tissue through the use of the surgical interface that is remotely located within the operating room. This interface is comprised of a monitor to provide visual feedback, foot pedals to control the operational state of the device, and two haptic devices to control the end point location of each arm and state of the end effectors.© 2013 ASME

Multi-Functional Surgical Robot for Laparo-Endoscopic Single-Site Colectomies

This paper presents work to develop a miniature in vivo robot for Laparo-Endoscopic Single-Site (LESS) colectomy. Colon resections are generally not done laparoscopically and would benefit from a robotic platform that reduces the limitations that are currently encountered. This paper looks at the workspace, forces, and speeds of a recently developed miniature in vivo surgical robot platform and analyzes the ability to perform a colon resection based on these criteria. The robotic platform used in this study consists of a two armed robotic prototype and a remote surgeon interface. For the surgical procedure, each arm of the robot is inserted individually into a single five centimeter incision and then assembled within the abdominal cavity. A surgeon then utilizes a user interface that is remotely located within the operating room. The current robotic platform has recently been demonstrated successfully in an in vivo procedure.Copyright