SmartArm: Dura Mater Suturing Experiments With A Versatile Surgical Robot

Abstract

Procedures requiring dura mater suturing and reconstruction through transnasal approaches are difficult owing to the narrow workspace of the nasal cavity, therefore are only performed in practice by expert surgeons. In this work, we present an overview of the SmartArm robot and experimental results in a teleoperated simulated endonasal surgery using a realistic head model. Our initial results show that, using the robot, a medically-untrained user can achieve expert-like results within a reasonable time-frame, and that the robot allows for fast and precise suturing.