Development of a Surgeon and Patient-Friendly Orthopedic Surgical Robot

Abstract

Surgical robots have some important advantages in minimally invasive surgeries. However, conventional surgical robots mostly choose different operation modes or methods from what surgeons are used to, and the robotic surgery procedure itself also generate extra injuries on patients. To solve such problems and enhance clinical applications of surgical robots, we put forward the concept of surgeon and patient-friendly surgical robot as well as criteria for evaluating the usefulness of a surgical robot according to such concept. Here, we present how a surgeon and patient-friendly orthopedic surgical robot was developed by imitating surgeons’ manually conducting a fracture reduction surgery and keeping surgeons’ way of thinking and planning the surgery. Experiment results show that this robot can complete complicated fracture reduction surgeries by combining the strengths of the robot and the surgeons but with no extra injuries on patients.