Title: Design and use of a master manipulator for a micro-neurosurgical system based on motion analysis

Authors: Hiroki Takahashi; Young Min Baek; Naohiko Sugita; Mamoru Mitsuishi; Shigeo Sora; Akio Morita

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan. ' Tokyo Metropolitan Police Hospital, 4-22-1 Nakano Nakano-ku, Tokyo, Japan. ' Kanto Medical Center NTT EC., 5-9-22 Higashi Gotanda Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Abstract: At present, master and slave surgical assistant systems are being actively studied. However, most of the researches focus on the slave manipulator. It is very important to develop a suitable master manipulator in order to support a more comfortable surgical environment. It also could lead to an increase in the success rate of operations. In this research, a dedicated master manipulator was designed to improve the manipulability in robotic-assisted neurosurgery. This is done because the requirements to the neurosurgery such as workspace and precision are different from those of other surgeries. Therefore, the motion of neurosurgeons was first analysed. Then, this knowledge of motion was taken into account during designing phase. A link mechanism is proposed to ensure that the motion vector of the manipulator is analogous to that of the human hand. The experimental results validated that the manipulability was improved with the developed master manipulator.

Keywords: surgical robotics; master manipulator; microsurgery; motion analysis; neurosurgery; surgical assistants; surgical assistive systems; manipulability; robot motion; robot control; robot surgery.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBBR.2012.049588

International Journal of Biomechatronics and Biomedical Robotics, 2012 Vol.2 No.1, pp.7 - 17

Published online: 27 Aug 2014 *

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