Development of a small sucker manipulator for underwater surgery support

WaFLES (Water-Filled LaparoEndoscopic Surgery) is an operative method suggested by Igarashi et al., which has several advantages, such as, preventing the drying of inner organs, and being able to use ultrasound devices for real time monitoring. However, grasping of inner organs with usual forceps for move and incision purpose is difficult. Therefore our ultimate goal is to develop a small sucker manipulator for WaFLES support. Experiments were conducted to explore suitable suction cups for underwater application, and suitable structure (cup-to-cup distance, elasticity of binding material, layouts of multiple cups) for a multiple-cup assembly, in terms of adsorption force and tolerance to sideslip. Experiment results showed that 1) the shape of each single suction cup for the underwater application was identified; 2) the structure of the multiple-cup assembly affects the adsorption force and tolerance to sideslip.