Sharif Digital Repository

Background: Many deficiencies of minimally invasive robotic surgery systems can be eliminated by using automated laparoscopic tools with force measurement and control capability. Method: A fully modular, automated laparoscopic instrument with a proximal force sensory system was designed and fabricated. The efficacy of the instrument was evaluated experimentally when functioning in an autonomous force-controlled grasping scheme. Results: The designed instrument was shown to work easily with standard laparoscopic tools, with the whole distal part detachable for autoclave sterilization. The root mean squared error (RMSE) of the actual pinch force from the target ramp was 0.318 N; it was 0.402 N... 

Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) is getting common these days. MIS robots using special tools can perform surgery precisely as humans. This is only possible with dexterous end-effectors and a well-controlled system. Local, lightweight and powerful actuators positioned at end-effectors provide the ability to decrease the degrees of freedom and simplify the design. This paper discusses a grasper design actuated by Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) wires that can be used in MIS robotics. The properties of a commercially available shape memory alloy are explored and analytical formulations for the actuation procedure are developed. The grasper actuated by SMA wires is studied and the procedure of... 

With the increasing trend toward Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) procedures, the need to develop new robotic systems to facilitate such surgeries is more and more recognized. This paper describes the design and development of a 4 DOF force-reflective master robot (RoboMaster1) for haptic telesurgery applications. A two-double parallelogram robot is introduced including a novel mechanism at the base for producing and control of the end effector's linear motion. This eliminates the deficiencies caused due to suspending massive actuators at the end effector or cabling from the base. The kinematics and work space of the system were analyzed and a prototype was developed for primary practical... 

Background An automated instrument tracking procedure was designed and developed for autonomous control of a cameraman robot during laparoscopic surgery. Material and methods The procedure was based on an innovative marker-free segmentation algorithm for detecting the tip of the surgical instruments in laparoscopic images. A compound measure of Saturation and Value components of HSV color space was incorporated that was enhanced further using the Hue component and some essential characteristics of the instrument segment, e.g., crossing the image boundaries. The procedure was then integrated into the controlling system of the RoboLens cameraman robot, within a triple-thread parallel... 

In Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) the operation is performed through introducing surgery instruments, graspers, scissor into the body. In the present work, a novel smart grasper is presented in which the surgeon can virtually acquire a feeling of force/momentum experienced by the organ/tissue. The smart grasper uses piezoelectric sensors bonded at desired locations to detect the applied force/momentum by surgeon and to measure the transmitted response to the tissue/organ. © 2009 IEEE  

Background: An effective master robot for haptic tele-surgery applications needs to provide a solution for the inversed movements of the surgical tool, in addition to sufficient workspace and manipulability, with minimal moving inertia. Method: A novel 4+1-DOF mechanism was proposed, based on a triple parallelogram linkage, which provided a Remote Center of Motion (RCM) at the back of the user's hand. The kinematics of the robot was analyzed and a prototype was fabricated and evaluated by experimental tests. Results: With a RCM at the back of the user's hand the actuators far from the end effector, the robot could produce the sensation of hand-inside surgery with minimal moving inertia. The... 

Application of robotic instruments in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has been developing in recent years. The urge to implement biocompatible and less invasive devices found way in use of materials like shape memory alloys. However such designs presented the idea of using heat control actuation in the MIS surgery and some have found noticeable position in robotic surgery. Yet the problems relating to insufficient stroke, slow motion and unfavorable generated heat have to be defeated. In this work it is focused to overcome these problems by a new design. Modern SMA grippers take advantage of two techniques: Net SMA and Spiral SMA. Both of these actuators demand application of high electric... 

Laparoscopic surgery is a Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) procedure which is performed in the abdominal cavity. In this paper, the spleen tissue and a laparoscopic surgical grasper were modeled using ABAQUS software to investigate the tool-tissue interaction, considering large deformations for the spleen tissue. The spleen tissue was modeled as a hyper-elastic material. The laparoscopic grasper includes three gripping jaws that always remain parallel. The sliding can occur between the gripping jaws and the spleen tissue. It was found that the relationship between the pinch forces and push forces keeps its linearity in different values of friction coefficient (0-0.3). The pushing force... 

This paper presents a method to determine material of an unknown sample object. The main objective of this study is to design a database for specifying material of an object. We produce the database for different materials which is subjected to different forces. For this purpose we use a Polyvinidilene Fluoride (PVDF) sensor which is a piezoelectric material. Also we study the effect of changing place of sensor on our study. The detailed design was performed using finite element method analysis. Furthermore, if we have an object which we do not know its material by use of this database we can find out what this object is and how much its Yanoung's modules is. This study will be suitable for... 

Background: Secure grasping and effective manipulation of delicate large organs during robotic surgery operations needs especially designed instruments that can enclose a large amount of tissue and feed back the pinch forces. Methods: A large organ triple-jaw grasper was instrumented using practical force sensory and actuating systems. A force tracking scheme was proposed to facilitate auto-grasping of large organs during robotic teleoperation surgery. An on-site force commanding/reflecting mechanism was also implemented to use the device as an independent hand-held robotic instrument. The efficacy of the robotic grasper was examined in phantom tests. Results: The instrument grasped large... 

Data related to force-deformation behaviour of soft tissue plays an important role in medical/surgical applications such as realistically modelling mechanical behaviour of soft tissue as well as minimally invasive surgery (MIS) and medical diagnosis. While the mechanical behaviour of soft tissue is very complex due to its different constitutive components, some issues increase its complexity like behavioural changes between the live and dead tissues. Indeed, an adequate quantitative description of mechanical behaviour of soft tissues requires high quality in vivo experimental data to be obtained and analysed. This paper describes a novel laparoscopic grasper with two parallel jaws capable of... 

In the present work, a multi sensing grasper has been developed for minimally invasive surgery with embedded ZnO piezoelectric and Fiber Bragg Grating sensors. In this model, a sensing patch equipped with three FBG sensors to sense the temperature in rage of 800 n.m and two separated FBG in range of 1550 m.m to detect the displacement in x and y directions. ZnO piezoelectric is highly sensitive to time and provides a good resistance to temperature. Therefore, this sensor is used for measuring the rate of strain and creep coefficient. A finite element approach based on the viscous material theory and plane displacement theory of anisotropic materials has been utilized to obtain the compliance... 

Different experimental techniques which have been developed to obtain data related to force-deformation behaviour of soft tissues play an important role in realistically simulating surgery processes as well as medical diagnoses and minimally invasive procedures. Indeed, an adequate quantitative description of soft-tissue-mechanical-behaviour requires high-quality experimental data to be obtained and analysed. In this review article we will first scan the motivations and basic technical issues on surgery simulation. Then, we will concentrate on different experimental techniques developed for recording force-deformation (stress-strain) behaviour of soft tissues with focussing on the in-vivo... 

Background: Autonomous grasping of soft tissues can facilitate the robotic surgery procedures. The previous attempts for implementing auto-grasping have been based on a simplistic representation of the actual surgery maneuvers. Method: A generalized three-zone grasp model was introduced to consider the effect of the pull force angulation on the grasp mode, that is, damage, slip, or safe grasp. Also, an extended auto-grasping algorithm was proposed in which the trigger force is automatically controlled against the pull force magnitude and direction, to achieve a safe and secure grasp. Results: The autonomous grasping experiments against a varying pull force in a phantom study indicated a good...