A robot for tele-manipulation

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There is a rapidly growing acceptance of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) and particularly robotic and robotic assisted MIS in which surgical procedures are performed such that minimizes damage to healthy organs and tissues. However, at present, one of the major disadvantages of MIS is that the surgeon's hands are not at the site of the operation itself. Consequently, surgeons are deprived of certain information and capabilities that are easily obtainable during open surgical procedures. These include palpation of tissues, determining tissue texture and locating tactile features such as hidden lumps, location and sizes of arteries and tumors embedded within a complex tissue. This demonstrates the importance of haptic sensing and feedback systems in MIS and robotized surgery.Much effort, on the part of researchers and this applicant, has been made to restore these missing capabilities. The resulting advancements, which include development of a suitable force/softness tactile sensor, tele-softness display and a tele-manipulation system have all shown promising results. However, further progress is retarded due to the lack of a robotic system to integrate all of these subcomponents.The applicant has, therefore, aimed at challenging this emerging area by utilizing an appropriate robotic system. This system basically consists of a manipulator, normally having six degrees of freedom, in which encoders provide information on the position of each degree of freedom. In addition to cabling and an Input/Output card, which are normally included in a standard system, several accessories are needed such as a vision based system to verify performance with or without vision. Because the smart endoscopic grasper will be replaced by the robot end effector, tactile information would be recorded and collected during specific tasks and be reconstructed at a master workstation using a softness display.