Mechanical manipulator for intuitive control of endoscopic instruments with seven degrees of freedom

During minimally invasive surgery (MIS), surgeons operate through small holes in the patient´s body and the movements of the instruments´ handles about the incision are scaled and mirrored. Complex tasks like suturing are very demanding due to disturbed hand-eye coordination and instruments with limited degrees of freedom (DOFs). Robotic systems enhance surgical dexterity by providing up to 7 DOFs. This allows the surgeon to operate with more intuitive manipulation of the instruments. Robotic systems, however, are very bulky, expensive and do not provide any force feedback. A relatively simple mechanical manipulator for MIS is developed as an alternative to robotic systems avoiding these drawbacks.