Contribution to the Mechanical Behavior Improvement of the Robotic Navigation Device Surgiscope®

Abstract

This paper proposes a new solution to the problem of torque minimization of the medical device SurgiScope® by connecting to the initial structure a secondary mechanical system, which generates a vertical constant force on the platform of the robotized device. The conditions for optimization are formulated by the minimization of the root-mean-square values of the input torques of the studied device. The positioning errors of the unbalanced and balanced robots are provided. A significant reduction of these errors is achieved by using the suggested balancing mechanism. The efficiency of the developed approach is illustrated by numerical simulations. Experimental validation of the obtained optimization is illustrated by a prototype developed in the National Institute of Applied Sciences of Rennes in collaboration with the “Intelligent Surgical Instruments & Systems” (ISIS) Company.