On the structure of the macro-micro neurosurgical robots in stereotactic surgery

Abstract

Many different forms of the neurosurgical robots have been suggested for stereotactic surgery. Recently, their position accuracies exceed the ones of the conventional stereotactic devices and their assisting role for the surgeon are helpful by reducing the procedure and the operation time. Recent advancements of the position and image sensing technologies such as CT, MRI, dynamic position tracking sensing, etc., encourages the devotion of researchers to put more effort to treat the uncertainties such as brain shift, unexpected brain movements etc. In this trend, the more adequate, efficient, cost-effective structure of the surgical robot needs to be investigated. Thus, in this paper, the structure of the typical neurosurgical surgical robot and their position accuracies are reviewed and the desirable design aspects are addressed.