Control System For an Assistive Robotic Arm in The Minimally Invasive Surgery

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is an operation using small incisions with the aid of a camera. In the conventional MIS, a human assistant holder is always needed to provide the surgeon's optimal view. The surgeon's performance relies on the laparoscopic view's quality, which is sensitive to surgeon-assistant suboptimal communication and human caused errors.

This research aims to develop a safe and intuitive laparoscope control system that can improve surgery quality and enable the surgeon to perform more efficiently. It is designed to replace the human camera holder in the MIS. This control system consists of a manual control block (via foot interface) and a shared control block. The surgeon has direct control over a laparoscope holder by using the foot interface. The shared control enables an automatic adjustment of the lens zoom factor by evaluating the size ratio of the main surgical tool to the laparoscopic view. Therefore, the system shares the surgeon's workload, reduce their cognitive load, and help the surgeon concentrate on hands-on tasks

Publications

• A novel foot interface versus voice for controlling a robotic endoscope holder