INTEGRATION OF FORCE FEEDBACK IN AN OPEN ROBOT PLATFORM FOR ROBOTIC SURGERY

Abstract: We present an open robot platform for mini-mally invasive surgery capable of very sensitive force feedback, which has been developed in very close coopera-tion with surgeons from cardiac surgery. Forces are meas-ured at the surgical instruments and fed back into the sur-geon’s hands using multi-dimensional haptic styluses. In-tegration of force feedback with stereo vision, as offered by the system, will improve accuracy, drastically reduce the time needed for operations and tissue trauma, along with a reduction of stress on the surgeon. This could lead to a wider acceptance of robotic surgery by both, patients and surgeons. The system’s software interface and mechanical set-up descriptions are freely available to enable other re-search groups to participate in the development