Cruciate-Ligament-Inspired Compliant Joints: Application to 3D-Printed Continuum Surgical Robots

Abstract

The rapid development of additive manufacturing technology makes it possible to fabricate a patient-specific surgical robot in a short time. To simplify the assembly process of the printed robotic system, compliant-joint-based monolithic structures are often used as substitutes for rigid-link mechanisms to realize flexible bending. In this paper, we introduce a cruciate-ligament-inspired compliant joint (CLCJ) to improve the bending stability of the 3D-printed continuum surgical robots. The basic structure of the tendon-driven CLCJ mechanism and its kinematic model were described in detail. The bending performance of CLCJ was also successfully evaluated by FEM simulation and experimental tests. Besides, a prototype of CLCJ-based surgical robotic system was presented to demonstrate its application in 3D-printed continuum surgical robots.