Design, development and evaluation of a highly versatile robot platform for minimally invasive single-port surgery

This work presents a new robot platform developed for laparoscopic single-port surgery. As a new approach, this platform enables the introduction of flexible endoscopic instruments through the designed hollow manipulators with Ø12mm and 6 DOFs. Two such highly versatile manipulators and a 5 DOF telescope are combined in a unit that can be inserted through a 30mm incision into the abdominal cavity. The entire platform is actuated by bowden wires in 2m distance at the periphery. This design overcomes the problem of having a bulky and heavy platform near the patient. The design of the platform and the individual components are presented in this paper. The implemented control and simulation environment are also illustrated. The working range of one manipulator and the applicable forces were measured. Furthermore, the results of the accomplished in-vivo studies are presented.