Actuators and variable stiffness of flexible surgical actuators: A review

IF 4.1 3区工程技术 Q2 ENGINEERING, ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC

Sensors and Actuators A-physical Pub Date : 2025-04-14 DOI:10.1016/j.sna.2025.116588

Kairui Wang , Lingwen Sun , Zhihao Liu , Nannan Sun , Jiyong Zhang

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Flexible surgical robots have gained attention for their ability to perform minimally invasive interventions on lesions in confined areas within the human body through a single port, marking a significant step towards the goal of non-invasive surgery. However, the narrow and tortuous human cavities impose higher demands on the compliance, operational precision, and force output of the actuators. Therefore, designing actuators with variable stiff capabilities is particularly crucial. Since the coordination between actuators and variable stiffness design is not a simple universal or direct correspondence but involves complex interplay, it is essential to delve into their mechanisms and integration schemes. This paper focuses on the progress of research in flexible surgical actuators over the past decade, first discussing the actuation principles and latest designs of various types of actuators. It then reviews the mechanisms of variable stiffness, analyzing the performance characteristics of different mechanisms in terms of stiffness adjustment range, response time, and space occupation. Finally, it summarizes and analyzes the integration schemes of actuators and variable stiffness approaches and points out that composite variable stiffness actuators will be a key direction for future development in this field.

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柔性外科致动器和变刚度致动器：综述

柔性手术机器人因其能够通过单个端口对人体受限区域的病变进行微创干预而受到关注，标志着向非侵入性手术的目标迈出了重要的一步。然而，狭窄弯曲的人体腔体对执行机构的顺应性、操作精度和输出力提出了更高的要求。因此，设计具有可变刚度的执行机构尤为重要。由于执行机构与变刚度设计之间的协调不是简单的通用或直接对应，而是涉及复杂的相互作用，因此有必要深入研究它们的机理和集成方案。本文重点介绍了近十年来柔性手术执行器的研究进展，首先讨论了各种类型的执行器的驱动原理和最新设计。然后回顾了变刚度的机理，分析了不同机构在刚度调节范围、响应时间和空间占用方面的性能特点。最后，对执行机构与变刚度方法的集成方案进行了总结和分析，指出复合变刚度执行机构将是该领域未来发展的关键方向。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Sensors and Actuators A-physical 工程技术-工程：电子与电气

CiteScore

8.10

自引率

6.50%

发文量

630

审稿时长

49 days

期刊介绍： Sensors and Actuators A: Physical brings together multidisciplinary interests in one journal entirely devoted to disseminating information on all aspects of research and development of solid-state devices for transducing physical signals. Sensors and Actuators A: Physical regularly publishes original papers, letters to the Editors and from time to time invited review articles within the following device areas: • Fundamentals and Physics, such as: classification of effects, physical effects, measurement theory, modelling of sensors, measurement standards, measurement errors, units and constants, time and frequency measurement. Modeling papers should bring new modeling techniques to the field and be supported by experimental results. • Materials and their Processing, such as: piezoelectric materials, polymers, metal oxides, III-V and II-VI semiconductors, thick and thin films, optical glass fibres, amorphous, polycrystalline and monocrystalline silicon. • Optoelectronic sensors, such as: photovoltaic diodes, photoconductors, photodiodes, phototransistors, positron-sensitive photodetectors, optoisolators, photodiode arrays, charge-coupled devices, light-emitting diodes, injection lasers and liquid-crystal displays. • Mechanical sensors, such as: metallic, thin-film and semiconductor strain gauges, diffused silicon pressure sensors, silicon accelerometers, solid-state displacement transducers, piezo junction devices, piezoelectric field-effect transducers (PiFETs), tunnel-diode strain sensors, surface acoustic wave devices, silicon micromechanical switches, solid-state flow meters and electronic flow controllers. Etc...