EndoPAR: An open evaluation system for minimally invasive robotic surgery

Abstract EndoPAR (Endoscopic Partial-Autonomous Robot) is an open experimental platform for robot assisted minimally invasive heart surgery with haptic feedback. The manipulator set-up is composed of two low-payload robots equipped with sensorized surgical instruments and a third robot carrying a stereo camera system. Trocar kinematics, enabling surgical manipulation through small incisions, has been implemented for all robotic arms. In order to ensure operation close to reality, a thorax and heart phantom for surgical training was used in the experiments. Stereo vision is provided via a head-mounted display and force-reective input devices are employed for user interaction. The system was evaluated by surgeons and it was capable of performing automated knot-tying. I