Development of a cost-effective actuation unit for three DOF concentric tube robot in minimally invasive surgery

Abstract

Concentric tube robot (CTR) has shown great potential in minimally invasive surgery with its small-scale construction and unique structure. It is highly suitable for reaching tight and non-linear surgical spaces. Much research has been conducted on the workspace simulation. However, most results are not validated with experimental data. In this paper, we propose a three Degree of Freedom (DOF) CTR with 50 cm in length and 3.3 kg in weight, consisting of an actuation unit and a manipulator with two tube assembly. The workspace is developed using the kinematic model simulation, and the results are validated using the laser based experimental data. Experiment results on testing the tip targeting mechanism using visual feedback are also presented. All the results obtained from this study show that the proposed CTR device is a promising tool which can be used in minimally invasive surgical applications.