Design and development of miniature parallel robot for eye surgery

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Ophthalmic Surgery
• Medical Device Engineering

Background:

• Vitreoretinal surgery requires high precision for delicate membrane removal.
• Existing surgical tools may lack the necessary dexterity and safety features for complex procedures.
• Minimally invasive techniques are crucial for reducing patient trauma and improving outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a compact, high-precision miniature parallel robot for internal limiting membrane (ILM) removal.
• To integrate an emergency instrument retraction system for enhanced intraoperative safety.
• To validate the robot's performance through experimental evaluation in a master-slave configuration.

Main Methods:

• Design and fabrication of a five degree-of-freedom (DOF) miniature parallel robot (85x100x240 mm, 770 g).
• Development of a simulator to optimize robot design parameters.
• Implementation of an emergency retraction function for rapid instrument withdrawal.
• Performance evaluation using a master-slave control setup to assess tracing accuracy.

Main Results:

• The developed robot demonstrated a high tracing accuracy of 40.0 μm.
• The integrated emergency retraction function provides a critical safety mechanism.
• The robot's compact size and weight are suitable for surgical environments.

Conclusions:

• The miniature parallel robot offers a precise and safe solution for ILM removal in vitreoretinal surgery.
• The robot's design, including the safety features and accuracy, shows significant potential for improving surgical outcomes.
• Further clinical validation is warranted to establish its efficacy in real-world surgical settings.