Hardware interface for a 3-DOF surgical robot arm and a 6-DOF end effector

Abstract

Robotic surgery aims minimum soft tissue damage and minimum operator intervention by employing automated, precise electro mechanical devices. In this project the hardware components of a surgical robot are integrated for orthopedic surgery. For this purpose an existing robot arm prototype is modi ed to operate a surgical end-e ector that is designed speci cally for orthopedic surgery. The electronic control system for both the arm and the end-e ector are designed in this study. In addition motor drive circuits of the end-e ector were designed. Control interface of both units, the arm and the end-e ector were implemented in hardware and also in software. While serially articulated robot arms are easy to handle, precision requirements of dynamically active robots in surgery are very demanding. To overcome the problem we integrated a serial robot arm with a parallel end-e ector. The serial arm is responsible for handling the end-e ector on the surgical site at a relatively static position. The end-e ector on the other hand, applying a dynamically changing force while moving the surgical tool on the operation area. Parallel stewart platform is preferred for the end-e ector design to increase the accuracy. Therefore the design includes two system structures; a stewart platform 6-DOF as the end e ector, and a 3-DOF serial robot arm to hold the end e ector.|Keywords: Robotics, Robotic Surgery, Computer Assisted Surgery, Parallel Robots, Serial Robots, DOF, Stewart Platform.