Development of a Variable-Scale Teleoperation System for Micro Surgery

在本研究中，我们旨在开发一种可用于未来显微外科手术的可变尺度双侧远程操作系统。为此，我们试图建立可变尺度遥操作系统的理论框架，并开发一个实际的可变尺度微遥操作系统。我们首先分析了位置和力的比例固定的比例遥操作系统的稳定性。然后利用h∞控制理论和线性矩阵不等式建立了基于增益调度方法的变尺度遥操作系统的设计框架。我们还提出了一种通过引入尺度相关权重来降低控制器保守性的方法。为设计包括可变尺度遥操作系统在内的各种双边主从系统建立一个基本框架具有重要意义。对于实际可变尺度微遥操作系统的开发，重点研究了视觉显示子系统，并讨论了在操作者任意改变位置和力缩放时如何控制从摄像机的位置。所得结果对今后设计可变尺度微遥操作系统具有一定的指导意义。我们还提出了一种新的触觉装置机制，可以显示任意恢复系数的真实脉冲力。我们开发了一个实际的原型装置，并证实了所提出想法的有效性。该装置不仅可用于虚拟环境下的医学训练，还可用于远程手术系统。

In this research, we aimed at developing a variable-scale bilateral teleoperation system that can be used for micro surgery in the future. For this purpose, we tried to establish the theoretical framework for variable-scale teleoperation systems and develop an actual variable-scale micro teleoperation system.We first analyzed the stability of the scaled-teleoperation systems where position and force scaling are fixed. We then established the design framework of the variable-scale teleoperation systems based on the gain scheduling method using H-infinity control theory and linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). We also proposed a method to reduce the conservativeness of the controllers by introducing scale-dependent weightings.It is very significant that we could establish a fundamental framework for designing a broad range of bilateral master-slave systems including variable-scale teleoperation systems.As for the development of the actual variable-scale micro teleoperation system, we focused on the visual display subsystem and discussed how to control the slave camera position when the operator changes position and force scaling arbitrarily. The obtained result could be a good guideline of designing an variable-scale micro teleoperation system in the future. We also proposed a new haptic device mechanism to display realistic impulsive forces with any restitution coefficient. We developed an actual prototype device and confirmed that the validity of the proposed idea. This device could be useful not only for medical training using virtual environment but also for tele-surgery systems.