Neurosurgical procedures require the dexterous manipulation of a surgical suture in a narrow and deep space in the brain to perform surgical tasks such as an anastomosis of micro blood vessels and dura mater suturing. A multi-DOF robotic forceps has been developed to perform such difficult surgical tasks with robotic aid. The diameter of the developed robotic forceps is 3.5 mm, and the tip has three degrees of freedom (DOFs), namely, bending, rotation and grip. In particular, the intersecting axes of the bending and rotation DOFs were designed for facilitating the needle placement in a narrow and deep space. Experiments were performed to evaluate the needle insertion force, and the result showed that the robotic forceps had a needle insertion force of 1.7 N on average. The needle insertion force needs to be further increased for practical applications.
