Microsurgery is a particularly impactful yet challenging form of surgery. Robot assisted microsurgery has the potential to improve surgical dexterity and enable precise operation on such small scales in ways not previously possible. Intraocular microsurgery is a particularly challenging domain in part due to the lack of dexterity that is achievable with rigid instruments inserted through the eye. In this work, we present a new design for a millimeter-scale, dexterous wrist intended for microsurgery applications. The wrist is created via a state-of-the-art two-photon-polymerization (2PP) microfabrication technique, enabling the wrist to be constructed of flexible material with complex internal geometries and critical features at the micron-scale. The wrist features a square cross section with side length of 1.25 mm and total length of 3.75 mm. The wrist has three tendons routed down its length which, when actuated by small-scale linear actuators, enable bending in any plane. We present an integrated gripper actuated by a fourth tendon routed down the center of the robot. We evaluate the wrist and gripper by characterizing its bend-angle. We achieve more than 90 degrees bending in both axes. We demonstrate out of plane bending as well as the robot's ability to grip while actuated. Our integrated gripper/tendon-driven continuum robot design and meso-scale assembly techniques have the potential to enable small-scale wrists with more dexterity than has been previously demonstrated. Such a wrist could improve surgeon capabilities during teleoperation with the potential to improve patient outcomes in a variety of surgical applications, including intraocular surgery.
翻译:显微外科手术是一种影响特别大但具有挑战性的外科手术形式。 机器人协助的显微外科手术有可能改善外科手术的灵敏度,并且能够以以前不可能做到的方式在如此小的尺度上精确操作。 显微外科手术是一个特别具有挑战性的领域, 部分原因是眼部插入的硬性仪器缺乏灵敏度。 在这项工作中, 我们提出了用于微外科手术应用的缩伸手腕的新设计。 手腕是通过最先进的二分级外科外科手术(2PP)、 微形外科手术技术来创造的, 使得手腕能够在如此小的尺度上进行精确的手术, 使得手腕能够用复杂的内部外科外科外科外科手术和微缩缩缩缩缩略图进行精确操作。 手腕的平方截面截面截面截面部部部部部部部部部部部部部部部部部部部部部部部部部部位的伸缩缩缩缩缩缩, 和右下四分部伸缩的伸缩式手腕部部伸直径部伸缩的伸缩伸缩伸缩的伸缩, 使我们的手腕部伸缩的手腕部伸缩伸缩的手部伸缩伸缩的伸缩伸缩伸缩伸伸缩的手部伸缩,在机械部部部部部部部部部部部部部伸至机械,我们伸至机械,我们的伸至机械,我们的伸缩的伸缩的伸缩的伸缩的伸缩,我们方伸缩的伸缩的伸缩伸缩伸缩的伸缩的伸缩伸。