Tags:Laparoscopy, Medical robotics, Soft robotics and Soft sensing
Abstract:
The field of laparoscopic surgery shows tremendous promise for improving patient outcomes and reducing the duration of hospital stays. However, the minimally invasive nature of these keyhole surgeries deprives surgeons of critical tactile feedback, which increases the chance of accidentally inflicting trauma upon tissues. We propose a soft robotic laparoscopic grasper designed with the primary objective of minimizing the forces needed to manipulate intestinal tissues, thus mitigating the likelihood of injuring the patient. The atraumatic nature of this device is achieved through a combination of inherently soft and compliant pneumatic actuators deployed via an expandable mechanism, an array of elastomeric force sensors, and an auxiliary suction functionality to establish an initial grip on targeted tissues without using a traditional "pinching" mechanism. This aggregation of features allows surgeons to circumferentially envelop intestinal segments in an atraumatic manner, thereby affording operators a reliable hold on abdominal tissues without the risk of causing damage. Testing has shown that the proposed grasper can hold an intestine phantom made from silicone with an attached 500g weight, as well as explanted porcine small intestine, and the soft sensors have demonstrated high accuracy when measuring contact forces in three dimensions.
A Soft Laparoscopic Grasper for Retraction of the Small Intestine