Dexterous-workspace-oriented Design of Robotic Manipulators for Microsurgery

Abstract

After analyzing the suturing and knot tying operation of surgeons and the assignment of operation space, the motions of an expert surgeon are recorded in two projective views and analyzed quantitatively. The relationship between the measured data and robot dexterity is analyzed, which is taken as the basis for designing the manipulators. The accurate 3D dexterous operation space of the slave end-effector is obtained based on the projective geometry and micro-surgical operation data. According to the collected data of dexterous workspace, the manipulator parameters and movement ranges of the joints are computed using inverse kinematics principle. A new prototype robotic manipulator (MicroHand) for microsurgery has been produced based on theoretical analysis and design.