Telesurgical Robotics and a Kinematic Perspective

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has revolutionized the world of surgery. On one hand, it offered many revolutionary advantages; on the other hand, it proved to be a tedious and sophisticated technique for surgeons. Telesurgical robotics came forward to assist surgeons and made surgeries even further innovative, safer, and efficacious. Kinematic—a fundamental and foremost design step—acts as the lynchpin of performance of a surgical robot. It plays a decisive role and defines the capabilities and viability of a robot vis-à-vis its application. This chapter tries to understand the kinematic design approaches in practice so far and discusses their features and potential shortcomings. Some of the notable kinematic structures are explained in detail, and an all-inclusive consideration to the kinematic aspects of the existing designs has been given. Based on the key challenges identified, possible solutions are suggested, which is followed by future research directions and conclusion.