Development of a Pneumatic Surgical Manipulator with a Passive Joint

Abstract

Recently robotic laparoscopic surgery has been widely performed. Most of surgical manipulator has RCM (Remote Center of Motion) mechanism, so operator must precisely adjust the center of motion to the insert port before the operation. If there is misalignment between the center point and the port, undesirable loads act on in active joints. The loads cause the friction negatively affecting position tracking and force estimation. In this research, we develop a manipulator that doesn’t require corresponding the center of motion and insert port precisely. Here we present the design of a pneumatically-driven surgical manipulator with a passive joint.