Kinematic Optimization of a Continuum Surgical Manipulator

Researches on robotically-assisted MIS (Minimally Invasive Surgery) thrived in the past decades due to improved postoperative outcomes. A majority of the existing developments followed a similar approach that a manipulator maneuvers a stick-like surgical tool for intra-abdominal surgical tasks. The surgical tool is usually equipped with a wrist for distal dexterity, while the manipulator, holding the surgical tool, is required to realize RCM (Remote Center of Motion) movements in order to prevent the surgical tool from tearing a patient's abdominal wall. On the other hand, a continuum surgical manipulator is potentially able to realize all the intra-abdominal movements without involving an RCM motion. This paper presents the kinematic optimization of such a continuum surgical manipulator. Considerations on the topology, kinematics modeling and optimizations are elaborated. An actual continuum surgical manipulator was constructed according to the optimization results and was demonstrated to be capable to accomplish a few representative desired tasks.