Design and Development of Advanced Surgical Robotic Systems

Robot-assisted surgery is playing an important role in delivering minimally invasive techniques to operate on patients\u27 organs. As many researchers have demonstrated, robotic surgery has the potential to overcome the limitations of conventional surgeries and improve surgical procedures to a completely new level with greater outcomes. Minimal incisions on the bodies of patients, increased precision, reduced pain, less hemorrhaging, reduced hospitalization time, and shorter recovery time are among patient-side benefits of using robots for surgeries. Improved ergonomics, enhanced visibility, filtered and scaled movements of surgeons\u27 hands, and the ability to perform operations from a great distance are some advantages robotic surgery offers surgeons. Many robotic surgical systems have been - and are being - developed, and a large number of traditionally manually-performed surgical procedures are being converted to robotic procedures. However, there is a need for robotic surgical systems that are more compact, less costly, and more functional. Of particular interest to the current study presented in this thesis is the introduction of robotic surgical systems with novel structures matching with their applications. Two cases of intraocular robotic surgery and laparoscopic robotic surgery were studied and two respective systems were developed. Intraocular robotic surgical system. Observations of ophthalmic surgeries at New York Eye and Ear Infirmity in winter 2011 disclosed an important characteristic of mechanical movements of surgical instruments and surgeons\u27 hands in intraocular operations. This feature, which is the core idea behind the proposed robotic system, was that all surgical instruments in ophthalmic surgeries are inserted into the eye from its periphery. Accordingly, a ring-shaped surgical headmaster was considered in the proposed surgical system to be placed on top of a patient\u27s head. Two or more robotic manipulators rotate around the surgical headmaster to deliver the surgical instruments from the periphery of the eye. The surgeon\u27s console in the proposed system is very space efficient and includes a pair of joystick controllers and a pair of vision goggles. Deployable laparoscopic robotic surgical system. It is proved that a SLE structure with servo-motorized intermediate pins can take any configuration in its deployment plane. The system\u27s configuration is obtained through proper control of servomotors to move intermediate pins and open/close the span of the first link set. This robotic structure can deliver end effectors to any point at any orientation in its deployment plane. The core idea behind the proposed laparoscopic surgical system is using this novel highly dexterous two-dimensional structure on a spherical base to make a robotic arm capable of dexterously manipulating surgical instruments and endoscopic cameras in three-dimensional space. With the proposed system, robotic slave arms retract and slide underneath the surgical bed after operations. Hence, they take up minimal space in the operation room both during and after surgeries. The surgeon\u27s console in this system is the same as the one developed for the proposed intraocular robotic surgical system