| dc.description.abstract | The applications of Continuum Robots in surgery have seen a rapid growth in the last two decades. The design of these robots requires
unique electro-mechanical architectures of Actuation Units and their end-
effector that satisfy operational requirements of precision, workspace, and payload capabilities. The ability of these robots to circumvent anatomical obstacles while preserving distal dexterity for surgical manipulation has motivated research on a variety of surgical applications.
Moreover, continuum robots can navigate deep into human anatomy for
surgical intervention showing dexterous motion capabilities in confined spaces for applications involving natural orifice surgery. Despite the recent rapid growth of research activity on continuum robots for surgery, there are limited number of commercial robotic platforms that use continuum robots. The vast majority use catheters for neurological applications, for pulmonology and for cardiac catheterization. Unlike the mechanical architecture of most of these systems, a new class of continuum robots called multi-backbone continuum robots (MBCR)
has been used in the past 2 decades. These robots present challenges that require unique approaches to modeling, control, and design. In this work, we focus on several critical aspects for successful MBCR use for
surgery.
We present design considerations for custom actuation units for MBCRs with key considerations of pre-clinical deployability for transurethral bladder tumor resection (TURBT). Moreover, we focus on a new class of
continuum robots capable of providing multi-scale manipulation. These robots achieve their micro-motion in a unique way by altering their static equilibrium. We therefore call this class of robots "continuum robots with equilibrium modulation" and use the acronym CREM to designate them. At the micro-motion scale, these robots present unique challenges in terms of motion tracking, kinematic modeling, and control. These challenges are also addressed in this work.
Furthermore, a new design concept for antagonistic-pairs two segments continuum robot (APCR) is introduced, aiming to provide 4 degrees of freedom of intraocular motions. In addition to challenges of achieving mechanical embodiments of multi-segment hollow-bore APCRs, we investigate the modeling of the statics of these robots using the chain method and dimensional synthesis for achieving intraocular dexterity,
At the end, we present the investigation of statically balanced condition for planar mechanism using elastic element, focusing on solution that will avoid the use of cumbersome and unrealistic design of these mechanism. | |
