(A) haptic master interface for robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery

Abstract

With the progress of remote robot technology, laparoscopic surgery using teleoperation has been developed in the field of minimally invasive surgery. Remote surgery, which uses a master interface to control a surgical slave system, provides higher accuracy and convenience than manual laparoscopic surgery. However, due to the high adaptability of various commercial haptic master devices, research on surgical robot systems has mainly focused on the development of slave systems. Therefore, a new haptic master interface applicable to remote laparoscopic surgery is proposed in this dissertation. In order to verify the feasibility of the kinematic structure, proposed in previous studies, a usability test is conducted to perform laparoscopic surgical tasks. The quantitative analysis of the experimental results confirms the positive effects on increased operability and decreased workload. Next, a mechanical gravity compensation mechanism for the structure is proposed. The feasibility of the proposed mechanism is verified through mathematical analysis. The main design variables for the mechanism implementation are determined through design optimization in order to minimize the inertia of the two main rotational movements. Based on the optimization results, a new prototype is developed, and the viability of the proposed gravity compensation mechanism is verified through a performance evaluation test. Finally, a motorized 3-DOF wrist joint is developed, and is integrated to the 3-DOF positioning joints to complete the 6-DOF master interface. The kinematics of the master device is analyzed and its performance as a haptic interface is evaluated. The master interface proposed in this dissertation is applicable to various remote laparoscopic surgical robot platforms and surgical training systems. It is expected to have a positive effect on learning curves and surgical performance.