Development of a telemanipulator for laparoscopic surgery

This paper describes the design of a dexterous surgical manipulator that performs like a human arm for minimally invasive surgery using a laparoscope. To mimic a human arm, our manipulator has 2 additional joint like an elbow in comparison with the most widely commercialized existing one. It would enable surgeon to move a MIS system in a manner analogous to an open instrument, and the time of current laparoscopic procedures could potentially be reduced. And we validate workspace of surgical manipulators and a laparoscope outside abdomen not to have a collision during the surgery. Furthermore, to measure force applied on the surgical tool-tip quantitatively, we have developed the surgical manipulator attached fiber optic sensor. Accordingly, we expect that the suggested design will provide improved dexterity for MIS to surgeons.