Surgical Robotic Arm

Abstract

It is widely agreed that an important short-coming of the currently available surgical robotic arms is the inability to transmit the sense of force to the master console. With the Master Robot, which provides force and pressure feedback, developed under this project, a critical technology that can be implemented in the new generation surgical robots has now been developed with national resources. This system consists of a Master Robot, a Slave Robot – which is compatible with the Da Vinci Endowrist surgery apparatus – and an integrated sensor actuator module.

The Master Robot (see Figure 2, Figure 3), which has been developed within the scope of this project, offers 7 degrees of freedom and is capable of providing feedback for the forces with 4 degrees of freedom. Additionally, it provides a pressure feedback in the same manner that can be felt by a surgeon’s index finger. The working space of the Master Robot has been designed to prevent uncomfortable feeling during longer operations by taking the surgical ergonomics into account.

Moreover, within the scope of the project, a module was designed with 4 DC engine power that can move the Slave Robot – the surgery apparatus (Da vinci Endowrist) – pertaining to the Da Vinci surgical robot (see Figure 4, Figure 5). A precise torque sensor (see Figure 7) was designed and manufactured within the scope of the project to detect the forces emerging from the 4^th, 5^th, 6^th, and 7^th degrees of movement of Da vinci Endowrist (see Figure 6) during the surgery. This sensor provides measurement range up to 1.3 Nm and 0.071 Nmm precision.