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Updated: Sep 26, 2025
Design and Fabrication of an Elastomeric Unit for Soft Modular Robots in Minimally Invasive Surgery
Published on: November 14, 2015
Safety enhanced surgical robot for flexible ureteroscopy based on force feedback
Xiongpeng Shu1,2, Peng Hua1, Shuang Wang1
1Institute of Forming Technology & Equipment, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
Background:
Although some robotic systems have been developed to improve conventional flexible ureteroscopy (FURS), a widely used intervention in urology, these robots rarely have a comprehensive force feedback function which is important for master-slave controlled surgical robots.
Methods:
Here, we design and fabricate a novel FURS robot with a comprehensive force feedback function. Moreover, to realize better force feedback, a neural network-based method is also demonstrated to estimate the interactive forces between the flexible ureteroscope and the environment.
Results:
We show that when teleoperating the flexible ureteroscope with our robot, the operator can accurately feel the obstruction if the interactive axial force or torque exceeds 1.2 N or 15.6 mN·m respectively. For bending movement, augmented force feedback greatly improves the accuracy of the operator's perception of obstruction.
Conclusions:
The developed robotic system with force feedback is expected to improve the safety of robot-assisted FURS.
