Single-port robotic manipulator system for brain tumor removal surgery: SiromanS

The paper presents a new single-port robotic manipulator system (SiromanS) for brain tumor removal surgery. SiromanS is designed to minimize the size of surgical incisions compared to those needed for existing brain tumor removal surgeries. SiromanS consists of two robotic arms, a stereo-endoscope with a light source, and a cylindrical insertion part to house the arms and the endoscope. The stereo-endoscope is used to provide a 3D view of the surgical site to surgeons. The insertion part possesses three channels, through which the two robotic arms and the stereo-endoscope are integrated into SiromanS. One robotic arm of SiromanS has a gripper end-effector and the other has a suction end-effector to remove the brain tumor. This paper presents the robotic arm controlled by a wire-driven mechanism for distal dexterous motion and its miniaturization, and illustrates an actuating module that is separable from the robotic arm for sterilization and tool exchange. The forward/inverse kinematics analysis is also presented. A series of experimental results show that SiromanS' performance capabilities are promising for brain surgery applications. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.