Modular Tele-Surgery System with Ergonomic Master Arms
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current robotic surgery systems are expensive, require complex maintenance, and lack flexibility and force feedback, making them inefficient and uncomfortable for surgeons, especially during minimally invasive laparoscopic surgeries.
Innovation Solution
A modular robotic tele-surgery system with a surgeon-side unit and patient-side unit, featuring adjustable master and slave robotic arms with multiple degrees of freedom, ergonomic adjustments, and a servo-mechanical interface for force feedback, allowing for comfortable and precise surgical procedures while reducing maintenance costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If integrated complex designs are used for robotic surgery systems, then surgical precision and stability are improved, but system cost and maintenance complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The robotic surgery system is divided into separate modular components: a robotic arm module, a surgical tool module, and a control module. Each module can be independently manufactured, tested, and maintained. The robotic arm contains degrees of freedom mechanisms for precision positioning, while the surgical tool can be detached and replaced. This segmentation reduces overall system complexity while preserving surgical precision through dedicated precision mechanisms in each module.
Solution Approach 2:
The robotic arm employs dynamic positioning mechanisms with multiple degrees of freedom that can be adjusted during surgery. The system transitions from static rigid positioning to dynamic adaptive positioning, allowing real-time adjustment of arm configuration and tool orientation. This dynamic capability maintains surgical precision while reducing the need for overly complex fixed-positioning systems.
2Manufacturing precision
If exclusively designed surgical tools are used at the end effector, then surgical precision is improved, but maintenance and operating costs increase considerably
Solution Approach 1:
The end effector is designed with a universal interface that can accommodate multiple types of surgical tools including cutting instruments, grasping tools, and stapling devices. The standardized mounting mechanism allows different surgical tools to be attached to the same robotic arm configuration. This universality maintains surgical precision through consistent positioning while dramatically reducing maintenance costs by enabling tool replacement rather than system replacement.
Solution Approach 2:
The surgical tool is extracted as a separate, removable component from the robotic system. The tool can be detached from the end effector and replaced with a different tool without affecting the robotic arm or control systems. This extraction allows the expensive robotic platform to be reused while only the relatively inexpensive surgical tools need replacement or maintenance.
3Manufacturing precision
If robotic arms are held in static positions during surgery, then surgical precision is maintained, but surgeon fatigue and discomfort increase
Solution Approach 1:
The robotic system provides dynamic positioning capabilities that allow the surgeon to adjust arm positions and tool orientations during the procedure. The system includes ergonomic controls that adapt to the surgeon's movements and preferences. This dynamic adjustability reduces surgeon fatigue by eliminating the need to maintain fixed, potentially uncomfortable postures while preserving surgical precision through active position control.
4Device complexity
If force feedback is not provided to the surgeon, then system complexity is reduced, but tissue damage risk increases due to excessive pinch or pull forces
Solution Approach 1:
The robotic system incorporates force feedback mechanisms that provide real-time tactile information to the surgeon about the forces being applied to the tissue. Sensors in the surgical tool measure pinch forces, pull forces, and contact pressures, and this information is transmitted back to the surgeon through haptic feedback in the control interface. This feedback loop enables the surgeon to adjust applied forces to remain within safe limits, preventing tissue damage while maintaining manageable system complexity through established sensor-feedback technologies.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein is a robotic tele-surgery system for performing laparoscopic surgeries. The system may include: a patient-side unit, a surgeon-side unit, and a controller that may be configured for establishing a master-slave relationship between the surgeon-side unit and the patient-side unit. The patient side unit may include a patient support assembly, at least two passive mounting mechanisms that may be slidably coupled to the patient support assembly and at least two slave robotic arms, coupled with a surgical instrument via a tool adapting mechanism from their distal end, and mounted on an associated passive support assembly from their base end. The surgeon-side unit may including at least two master robotic arms, and an ergonomic adjustment mechanism that may be configured for housing and adjusting the position and orientation of the master robotic arms.