Development of a surgical robot system for endovascular surgery with augmented reality function.

Abstract

We started the project of the surgical robotic system in 2001 as an application for abdominal surgery. The robot enables a surgeon to perform various surgical procedures in abdominal region as in open surgery. We have extended the concept of the robotic surgery system and developed a new robotic system for cardiac and endovascular surgery. The new robot has a stereo video camera system, two manipulators and a flexible tube, 3 mm in diameter, used as an instrument channel. The maximum diameter of the robot is 6 mm. We also applied 4D ultrasound imaging system to the robot system, that enabled to observe a situation of the robot and surgical field in a blood flow. In this paper, we describe a detail of the robot system and results of phantom experiment.