Design, modeling and control of a minimally invasive surgical platform

Minimally invasive single-site surgery has been shown to reduce the invasiveness of surgery by requiring only one incision to access the abdominal cavity. However, this technique presents the surgeon with unique challenges and requires the development of new robotic platforms and surgical tools. To address these challenges, a 20 mm trocar is designed to guide the serial insertion and assembly of three individual 3D printed, 8 mm, 5+1 degree-of-freedom (DOF) manipulator tools and a standard 8 mm laparoscopic camera through a single port. Each dexterous manipulator is remotely driven by 12 actuation tendons and is composed of rigid links joined by hybrid flexure hinges. For ensuring large transition of the vision scope, a holding frame of the trocar is introduced. The holding frame consists 3 degree-of-freedom (DOF) rotating which enable a pivot point where the incision goes through, and one additional DOF that controls the incision depth. Haptic devices are applied for translating the dexterity of the human arm to both the internal operating field and the external positioning frame