微創手術機器人之自動化快速更換器械裝置開發

Abstract

本研究主要開發一套應用在醫療機器人上新型的自動更換手術器械的裝置,使得微創外科手術在機器人輔助下,可以快速而且精確地更換手術器械。然而,一直以來手術機器人系統中,經常忽略自動更換器械系統的重要性,因此大多數現有的機器人手術系統仍然需要手動操作來更換手術器械。為了實現自動儀器更換,我們提出了一項主要由儀器適配器(Adapter)和儀器托架(Holder)組成的機構。器械適配器在手術器械和托架之間建立統一的耦合機構。儀器托架通過適配器夾住手術器械,當兩個托架連接在一起時,利用機構原有的特性,便可以將手術器械自然地轉移到另一個空的拖架上。目前所提出的自動更換手術器械的裝置的原型已實現並安裝在外科手術機器人上。實驗結果驗證了原型設計在自動化、精確度和快速更換手術器械中的能力有符合開發的目標。

This paper introduces a novel automatic instrument changer that allows for fast and precise tool changing in robot-assisted microsurgery. The importance of such a system is usually ignored and therefore most of the existing robotic surgical system still requires manual operation to change surgical instruments. To achieve automatic instrument changing, we propose a mechanism consists of an instrument adapter and an instrument holder. The instrument adapter creates a unified interface between the surgical instrument and the holder. The instrument holder clamps the instrument through the adapter, which can be transferred to another empty holder when these two holders are connected. A prototype of the proposed automatic instrument changer was implemented and mounted on a surgical robot. The experimental results validate the capability and performance of the prototypical design in automatic, precise, and fast instrument changing.