This paper presents the mechanical design of a novel surgical robotic platform, specifically developed for single-port laparoscopy (SPL). The greatest constraint is the small size of the skin incision through which the robot must operate. Several technical and technological challenges have been tackled to meet the stringent requirements imposed by the surgical procedure at hand. In this paper, a detailed mechanical description of the system is provided, fulfilling the necessary design requirements. The main outcome of this work is a compact, light-weight (total weight approximately 6 kg) and highly dexterous bimanual robot capable of overcoming the current drawbacks experienced in SPL when using traditional medical devices. The system has been assessed in terms of tracking accuracy, resulting in satisfactory and promising performance.

References

1.
Stassen
,
H. G.
,
Grimbergen
,
C. A.
, and
Dankelman
,
J.
,
2004
, “
Introduction to Minimally Invasive Surgery
,”
Engineering for Patient Safety: Issues in Minimally Invasive Procedures
,
CRC
, Boca Raton, FL, pp.
2
18
.
2.
Navarra
,
G.
,
Pozza
,
E.
,
Occhionorelli
,
S.
,
Carcoforo
,
P.
, and
Donini
,
I.
,
1997
, “
One-Wound Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy
,”
Br. J. Surg.
,
84
(
5
), pp.
695
695
.10.1002/bjs.1800840536
3.
Romanelli
,
J.
, and
Earle
,
D.
,
2009
, “
Single-Port Laparoscopic Surgery: An Overview
,”
Surg. Endoscopy
,
23
, pp.
1419
1427
.10.1007/s00464-009-0463-x
4.
Lirici
,
M. M.
,
2012
, “
Single Site Laparoscopic Surgery: An Intermediate Step Toward No (Visible) Scar Surgery or the Next Gold Standard in Minimally Invasive Surgery?
,”
Minimally Invasive Ther. Allied Technol.
,
21
(
1
), pp.
1
7
.10.3109/13645706.2011.631551
5.
Tang
,
B.
,
Hou
,
S.
, and
Cuschieri
,
S. A.
,
2012
, “
Ergonomics of and Technologies for Single-Port Laparoscopic Surgery
,”
Minimally Invasive Ther. Allied Technol.
,
21
(
1
), pp.
46
54
.10.3109/13645706.2011.627924
6.
Haber
,
G.-P.
,
White
,
M. A.
,
Autorino
,
R.
,
Escobar
,
P. F.
,
Kroh
,
M. D.
,
Chalikonda
,
S.
,
Khanna
,
R.
,
Forest
,
S.
,
Yang
,
B.
,
Altunrende
,
F.
,
Stein
,
R. J.
, and
Kaouk
,
J. H.
,
2010
, “
Novel Robotic da Vinci Instruments for Laparoendoscopic Single-Site Surgery
,”
Urology
,
76
(
6
), pp.
1279
1282
.10.1016/j.urology.2010.06.070
7.
Vitiello
,
V.
,
Lee
,
S.-L.
,
Cundy
,
T.
, and
Yang
,
G.-Z.
,
2013
, “
Emerging Robotic Platforms for Minimally Invasive Surgery
,”
IEEE Rev. Biomed. Eng.
,
6
, pp.
111
126
.10.1109/RBME.2012.2236311
8.
Ding
,
J.
,
Xu
,
K.
,
Goldman
,
R.
,
Allen
,
P.
,
Fowler
,
D.
, and
Simaan
,
N.
,
2010
, “
Design, Simulation and Evaluation of Kinematic Alternatives for Insertable Robotic Effectors Platforms in Single Port Access Surgery
,”
2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation
(
ICRA
), Anchorage, AK, May 3–7, pp.
1053
1058
.10.1109/ROBOT.2010.5509244
9.
Phee
,
S. J.
,
Kencana
,
A. P.
,
Huynh
,
V. A.
,
Sun
,
Z. L.
,
Low
,
S. C.
,
Yang
,
K.
,
Lomanto
,
D.
, and
Ho
,
K. Y.
,
2010
, “
Design of a Master and Slave Transluminal Endoscopic Robot for Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery
,”
Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng., Part C
,
224
(
7
), pp.
1495
1503
.10.1243/09544062JMES1880
10.
Kobayashi
,
Y.
,
Tomono
,
Y.
,
Sekiguchi
,
Y.
,
Watanabe
,
H.
,
Toyoda
,
K.
,
Konishi
,
K.
,
Tomikawa
,
M.
,
Ieiri
,
S.
,
Tanoue
,
K.
,
Hashizume
,
M.
, and
Fujie
,
M. G.
,
2010
, “
A Surgical Robot With Vision Field Control for Single Port Endoscopic Surgery
,”
Int. J. Med. Rob. Comput. Assisted Surg.
,
6
(
4
), pp.
454
464
.10.1002/rcs.355
11.
Shang
,
J.
,
Noonan
,
D.
,
Payne
,
C.
,
Clark
,
J.
,
Sodergren
,
M.
,
Darzi
,
A.
, and
Yang
,
G.-Z.
,
2011
, “
An Articulated Universal Joint Based Flexible Access Robot for Minimally Invasive Surgery
,”
2011 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Shanghai, China, May 9–13
, pp.
1147
1152
.
12.
Wortman
,
T.
,
Mondry
,
J.
,
Farritor
,
S.
, and
Oleynikov
,
D.
,
2013
, “
Single-Site Colectomy With Miniature in Vivo Robotic Platform
,”
IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng.
,
60
(
4
), pp.
926
929
.10.1109/TBME.2012.2226884
13.
Pisla
,
D.
,
Gherman
,
B.
,
Vaida
,
C.
,
Suciu
,
M.
, and
Plitea
,
N.
,
2013
, “
An Active Hybrid Parallel Robot for Minimally Invasive Surgery
,”
Rob. Comput.-Integr. Manuf.
,
29
(
4
), pp.
203
221
.10.1016/j.rcim.2012.12.004
14.
Shin
,
W.-H.
, and
Kwon
,
D.-S.
,
2013
, “
Surgical Robot System for Single-Port Surgery With Novel Joint Mechanism
,”
IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng.
,
60
(
4
), pp.
937
944
.10.1109/TBME.2013.2242070
15.
Piccigallo
,
M.
,
Scarfogliero
,
U.
,
Quaglia
,
C.
,
Petroni
,
G.
,
Valdastri
,
P.
,
Menciassi
,
A.
, and
Dario
,
P.
,
2010
, “
Design of a Novel Bimanual Robotic System for Single-Port Laparoscopy
,”
IEEE/ASME Trans. Mechatronics
,
15
(
6
), pp.
871
878
.10.1109/TMECH.2010.2078512
16.
Scarfogliero
,
U.
,
Quaglia
,
C.
,
Piccigallo
,
M.
,
Tognarelli
,
S.
,
Valdastri
,
P.
,
Menciassi
,
A.
, and
Dario
,
P.
,
2011
, “
Robotic Apparatus for Minimally Invasive Surgery
,” Patent No. WP2011135503 (A1)—PCT.
17.
Petroni
,
G.
,
Niccolini
,
M.
,
Caccavaro
,
S.
,
Quaglia
,
C.
,
Menciassi
,
A.
,
Schostek
,
S.
,
Basili
,
G.
,
Goletti
,
O.
,
Schurr
,
M.
, and
Dario
,
P.
,
2013
, “
A Novel Robotic System for Single-Port Laparoscopic Surgery: Preliminary Experience
,”
Surg. Endoscopy
,
27
(
6
), pp.
1932
1937
.10.1007/s00464-012-2690-9
18.
Petroni
,
G.
,
Niccolini
,
M.
,
Menciassi
,
A.
,
Dario
,
P.
, and
Cuschieri
,
A.
,
2013
, “
A Novel Intracorporeal Assembling Robotic System for Single-Port Laparoscopic Surgery
,”
Surg. Endoscopy
,
27
(
2
), pp.
665
670
.10.1007/s00464-012-2453-7
19.
Galvao Neto
,
M.
,
Ramos
,
A.
, and
Campos
,
J.
,
2009
, “
Single Port Laparoscopic Access Surgery
,”
Tech. Gastrointest. Endoscopy
,
11
(
2
), pp.
84
93
.10.1016/j.tgie.2009.06.007
20.
Madhani
,
A. J.
,
1997
, “
Design of Teleoperated Surgical Instruments for Minimally Invasive Surgery
,” Ph.D. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.
21.
Cavusoglu
,
M. C.
,
2000
, “
Telesurgery and Surgical Simulation: Design, Modeling, and Evaluation of Haptic Interfaces to Real and Virtual Surgical Environments
,” Ph.D. thesis, EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley.
22.
Sallé
,
D.
,
Cepolina
,
F.
, and
Bidaud
,
P.
,
2004
, “
Surgery Grippers for Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery
,”
IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Manipulation and Grasping (IMG), Genova, Italy, Jul. 1–2
.
23.
Cavallo
,
F.
,
Megali
,
G.
,
Sinigaglia
,
S.
,
Tonet
,
O.
, and
Dario
,
P.
,
2005
, “
A Biomechanical Analysis of Surgeon's Gesture in a Laparoscopic Virtual Scenario
,”
Stud. Health Technol. Inf.
,
119
, pp.
79
84
.
24.
Carbone
,
G.
,
2013
, “
Stiffness Analysis for Grasping Tasks
,”
Mechanisms and Machine Science
, Vol.
10
,
G.
Carbone
, ed.,
Springer
,
London
, pp.
17
55
.
25.
Savall
,
J.
,
Martín
,
J.
, and
Avello
,
A.
,
2008
, “
High-Performance Linear Cable Transmission
,”
ASME J. Mech. Des.
,
130
(
6
), p.
064501
.10.1115/1.2901149
26.
Hong
,
D. W.
, and
Cipra
,
R. J.
,
2003
, “
A Method for Representing the Configuration and Analyzing the Motion of Complex Cable-Pulley Systems
,”
ASME J. Mech. Des.
,
125
(
2
), pp.
332
341
.10.1115/1.1564062
27.
Cronin
,
J. A.
,
Frecker
,
M. I.
, and
Mathew
,
A.
,
2008
, “
Design of a Compliant Endoscopic Suturing Instrument
,”
ASME J. Med. Des.
,
2
(
2
), p.
025002
.10.1115/1.2931551
28.
Aguirre
,
M. E.
,
Hayes
,
G. R.
,
Meirom
,
R. A.
,
Frecker
,
M. I.
,
Muhlstein
,
C. L.
, and
Adair
,
J. H.
,
2011
, “
Optimal Design and Fabrication of Narrow-Gauge Compliant Forceps
,”
ASME J. Mech. Des.
,
133
(
8
), p.
081005
.10.1115/1.4004539
29.
Wang
,
N. F.
, and
Tai
,
K.
,
2008
, “
Design of Grip-and-Move Manipulators Using Symmetric Path Generating Compliant Mechanisms
,”
ASME J. Mech. Des.
,
130
(
11
), p.
112305
.10.1115/1.2976790
30.
Carlson
,
L. E.
,
Veatch
,
B. D.
, and
Frey
,
D. D.
,
1995
, “
Efficiency of Prosthetic Cable and Housing
,”
J. Prosthet. Orthot.
,
7
(
3
), pp.
96
99
.
31.
Niccolini
,
M.
,
Petroni
,
G.
,
Menciassi
,
A.
, and
Dario
,
P.
,
2012
, “
Real-Time Control Architecture of a Novel Single-Port Laparoscopy Bimanual Robot (Sprint)
,”
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation
(
ICRA
), St. Paul, MN, May 14–18, pp.
3395
3400
.10.1109/ICRA.2012.6224984
32.
Strobl
,
K.
, and
Hirzinger
,
G.
,
2006
, “
Optimal Hand-Eye Calibration
,”
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems
, Beijing, China, Oct. 9–15, pp.
4647
4653
.10.1109/IROS.2006.282250
33.
Zhuang
,
H.
,
Roth
,
Z. S.
, and
Sudhakar
,
R.
,
1994
, “
Simultaneous Robot/World and Tool/Flange Calibration by Solving Homogeneous Transformation Equations of the Form ax = yb
,”
IEEE Trans. Rob. Autom.
,
10
(
4
), pp.
549
554
.10.1109/70.313105
34.
Petroni
,
G.
,
Niccolini
,
M.
,
Tognarelli
,
S.
,
Quaglia
,
C.
,
Caccavaro
,
S.
,
Menciassi
,
A.
, and
Dario
,
P.
,
2013
, “
Pre-Clinical Validation and Assessment of an Innovative Bi-Manual Surgical Robot for Single-Port Laparoscopy
,” Proceedings of The Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics, Imperial College London, UK, June 22–25, G.-Z. Yang and A. Darzi, eds., London, UK, pp.
96
97
.
You do not currently have access to this content.