Body-Supported Medical Robots: A Survey

Abstract

In medical robotics applications it is often advantageous for a robot to be directly mounted on or supported by the body of the patient during a medical procedure or examination. Whereas early medical robot systems were generally manipulator arms with a large base resting on the floor or mounted to the table next to the patient, several more recently developed systems rest directly on the patient. Body-supported medical robots can be designed to be much more compact and lightweight, leading to improved accuracy and safety and reduced cost, and are easier to set up and use in the operating room environment compared to conventional robot manipulator arms. Five examples of body-supported surgical robots are surveyed in this paper: The ARTHROBOT for total hip arthroplasty, PRAXITELES for knee arthroplasty, MARS for spinal pedicle screw placement and drill guiding, TER for remote ultrasound examinations, and LER for endoscope positioning in minimally invasive surgery.