Modular micro robotic instruments for transluminal endoscopic robotic surgery: New perspectives

The paper addresses the benefits and new perspectives in minimally invasive surgery, related to the development of a new generation of surgical robots for natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) with snail architecture and variable stiffness actuation. Snail surgical arms have been proposed and are under development for laparoscopic surgery with access to the patients's body through external incisions. The same concept can be transferred to NOTES procedures with the benefit to improve the reach of the organs by the robot and then to shorten the active portion of the snail arm (besides the general benefits of NOTES such as avoiding external scars). The use of variable stiffness actuation (together with the shortening of the arm portion active during the operation) can further improve controllability and safety. The research involves the development of a miniaturized VSA using superelastic alloy, small enough to be embedded in the joints of the arm. The targeted diameter is 6 mm for the first prototype. The new NOTES instruments proposed are expected to carry out surgical tasks in a large and complex workspace, overcoming obstacles and being safe in case of accidental impacts with the surgical environment. The research is carried out in the framework of the Italian Strategic Research Programmes 2008–2012. A detailed description of the project is provided.