Robotic controlled endoscopic manipulator

Abstract

Describes a robotic camera holder for laparoscopy, now known as EndoSista. EndoSista holds the telescope at its distal end, and moves it in response to movements of the surgeon's head. Technically, EndoSista is a robotic telemanipulator with three normal degrees of freedom controlled by corresponding head gestures. The surgeon wears a headband fitted with a small inductive sensor which measures position change and transmits a signal. The EndoSista controller converts these signals into movements of the camera in the logical direction. Thus to move the camera to view more to the left, the surgeon turns his head left; to move up, he looks up and so on. This can be accomplished by relatively small angles of head turn, so that the surgeon does not need to shift his gaze from the monitor, but merely looks towards the side of the screen where he wishes the view to move. The EndoSista only responds to head movements when the surgeon is additionally pressing a footpedal, thus allowing him to make unhindered head movements when no camera motion is required. (3 pages)