Development of a Miniaturized Bedside Robotic Wrist with Multifunctional Movement Capabilities: An Analysis Based on a Simulation Environment

Bedside robots equipped with medical devices can be effective in assisting physicians to perform specific medical tasks on mobile medical vehicles via remote operation. However, the major challenges are to make the robot small and dexterous enough to meet the clinical requirements and fit into the small space of the mobile medical vehicle. In this paper, we propose a miniaturized bedside robotic wrist based on a 6-RSU parallel mechanism with multifunctional motion capabilities. The robotic wrist can be equipped with various medical instruments, including but not limited to ultrasound probes, biopsy needles and endoscopes. To meet different clinical needs, the motion mode of the robotic wrist can be switched between decoupled and remote center of motion. To verify the effectiveness of the design, the kinematic model of the robotic wrist for two motion modes was established and different simulation studies were performed. The experimental results show that the robotic wrist has a favorable working performance to be deployed onto mobile medical vehicles, demonstrating its promising application prospects.