Design and Making of a Hand-Held Spillage-Free Specimen Retrieval Robot for Laparoscopic Surgery

Abstract

This paper presents the design and making of RoboCatch, a novel hand-held robot that aids surgeons in performing spillage-free specimen retrieval in laparoscopic surgery. The proposed design significantly modifies and extends conventional instruments that are currently used for this task. Specimen retrieval is initiated by introducing the robot’s trocar into the surgical site. A webbed three-fingered grasper slides out of the trocar and unfolds in an umbrella like-fashion. A pair of atraumatic forceps, concentrically aligned with the grasper, slide outward to grasp an excised specimen and retract it into the center of the grasper, which then closes to achieve a secured containment of the specimen. Finally, the robot is manually removed from the abdominal cavity. Physical validation experiments involving specimen retrieval of porcine meat samples revealed that the robot could retrieve specimens of masses ranging from 1 gram to 40 grams.