Theoretical and experimental study methods for a robotic system with deformable elements used in minimally invasive surgery

Abstract

The paper tackles conceptual solutions and theoretical and experimental analysis methods to prototype a robotic system used in surgery. The system put forward consists of an actuation unit, a command and control unit, and a flexible unit. The flexible unit displays a complex structure consisting of rigid bodies (vertebrae) and deformable bodies (drive wires). The present research study was carried out during three stages: establishing the mathematical models according to the analysis of the flexible unit movement, the development of virtual prototyping of the flexible unit, and the experimental study of the developed prototype. The dynamic analysis of the flexible unit is based on the theory of multi-body systems; hence major challenge was to model the rigid-body and the deformable-body contact in reliance on the theory developed by Craig&Bampton. Nevertheless, the theoretical, virtual, and experimental results reported following our comparative analysis highly recommend the use of the prototype obtained in minimally invasive explorations.