Multi-Functional Surgical Robot for Laparo-Endoscopic Single-Site Colectomies

This paper presents work to develop a miniature in vivo robot for Laparo-Endoscopic Single-Site (LESS) colectomy. Colon resections are generally not done laparoscopically and would benefit from a robotic platform that reduces the limitations that are currently encountered. This paper looks at the workspace, forces, and speeds of a recently developed miniature in vivo surgical robot platform and analyzes the ability to perform a colon resection based on these criteria. The robotic platform used in this study consists of a two armed robotic prototype and a remote surgeon interface. For the surgical procedure, each arm of the robot is inserted individually into a single five centimeter incision and then assembled within the abdominal cavity. A surgeon then utilizes a user interface that is remotely located within the operating room. The current robotic platform has recently been demonstrated successfully in an in vivo procedure.