Dental Robot Suspension for Precise Tooth Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
The current state of dentistry faces challenges with high costs and a limited supply of dental practitioners, exacerbated by a reliance on manual procedures, leading to a dental care crisis with widespread avoidance and severe health ramifications.
Innovation Solution
A robotic dental system with a suspension system that mechanically couples a platform to a base, allowing the platform to maintain a fixed position and orientation relative to teeth while accommodating changes in the patient's position and orientation, ensuring high accuracy in dental procedures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If manual dental procedures are used, then dental care can be provided with simple equipment, but the cost is high and the availability of practitioners is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical dental procedures with an automated robotic system. The robotic arm with end effector substitutes the manual handpiece, and the computer-controlled suspension system replaces manual positioning, thereby increasing productivity and reducing dependence on practitioner availability while maintaining procedural capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The robotic system is designed to autonomously perform dental procedures without continuous manual intervention. The computer control system automatically manages the robotic arm movements and suspension adjustments, enabling the system to service itself during operation and reducing the need for skilled practitioner involvement.
2Manufacturing precision
If existing robotic systems are used for tooth preparation, then automation is provided, but the precision and accuracy are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates a computer control system that receives feedback from sensors monitoring the position of the robotic arm and suspension system. This feedback loop enables real-time adjustments to maintain the tip of the end effector at the desired location on the tooth surface, achieving high precision of 50 microns or less despite system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The suspension system dynamically adjusts parameters such as platform position, orientation, and suspension length in response to forces applied during the procedure. This continuous parameter adjustment compensates for tooth movement and maintains preparation accuracy, resolving the contradiction between precision and complexity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the robotic arm is rigidly fixed to maintain position, then stability is provided, but the system cannot accommodate changes in tooth position and orientation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a dynamic suspension system with degrees of freedom that allow the platform to move and adjust its position and orientation in response to forces applied during the dental procedure. This dynamic capability enables the system to accommodate tooth movement while maintaining preparation stability through computer-controlled adjustments.
Solution Approach 2:
The suspension system acts as an intermediary between the fixed base and the robotic arm platform. It mediates the contradiction by providing controlled flexibility through suspension mechanisms that allow platform movement to follow tooth position changes while maintaining overall system stability and positional accuracy.
4Manufacturing precision
If the platform position changes to accommodate tooth movement, then adaptability is improved, but the position and orientation of the platform relative to the base become unstable
Solution Approach 1:
The computer control system continuously monitors platform position and suspension system state, providing feedback to make real-time corrections. This feedback mechanism ensures that while the platform moves to accommodate tooth position changes, the end effector tip maintains precise positioning accuracy of 50 microns or less relative to the tooth surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes parameters including suspension length, platform orientation, and robotic arm position to maintain end effector tip accuracy. These coordinated parameter changes allow the platform to adapt to tooth movement while preserving positioning precision, resolving the stability-accuracy contradiction.
Data Source
AI summary
A dental robot includes a platform and a suspension system. The suspension system supports the platform and automatically compensates for weights of the platform and a robot arm, end effector, and tooth clamp attached to the platform. The suspension system maintains a constant height of the platform above a base, absent an external force on the tooth clamp. The suspension system allows position and orientation of the platform to change, relative to the base, in response to an external force on the tooth clamp greater than about 0.1 N, such as a result of movement (change in position and/or orientation) of a subject. Consequently, the position and orientation of the platform remain fixed, relative to the subject's teeth, in response to movement of the teeth.