Robot-assisted microsurgery
Robot-assisted microsurgery
Keywords: Robots, Surgery, Patents
Applicant: California Institute of Technology, USAPatent number:US2001020200Publication date: 6 September 2001Title: Tool actuation and force feedback on robot-assisted microsurgery system
This patent describes a force feedback system for a mechanically decoupled six-degree- of-freedom tele-operated robot system that is suitable for robot assisted microsurgery. A microsurgical manipulator, attached to the robot manipulator, is activated to move small objects and perform microsurgical tasks. The integration of a high precision micromanipulator with a highly sensitive force sensor to the slave robot can enhance a surgeon's feel of soft tissues. This allows effective performance of microsurgical tasks with resolution of the hand motion less than 10 microns. The force sensor readings are used to amplify forces with high resolution to an input device on the master control. The amplified forces allow the surgeon operating the master control handle to feel the soft tissues with greater sensitivity and to move the handle with exaggeration and precision.
