Design and Analysis of a Drive and Perception Integration Manipulator for Spinal Surgery

This paper presents the design of a hybrid manipulator for spinal surgery which has a feature of drive and perception integration. The parallel part of the robot which controls position and posture of the terminal is based on a two-level cross slide structure with an additional serial end effector for the axial feed. The series part which controls the feed of surgical tool is driven by a brushless motor through a leadscrew nut. The dexterity of robot is evaluated through calculating the position and posture condition number. The cross slide is driven by a synchronous belt and the corresponding driving force is measured by sensitive elements attached on the fixed structure of idler wheels. Meanwhile, driving force of the feeding structure is obtained with an improved micro force sensor. Finally, linearity of these sensors is measured to test the reliability of design.