Sensorless Transparency Optimised Force Safety Guarantee Mechanism for Robot-Assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Surgical Technology
• Control Systems Engineering

Background:

• Robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery (RMIS) currently lacks the inherent force sensing capabilities of traditional open surgery.
• This limitation poses a challenge for ensuring patient safety during complex robotic procedures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a sensorless transparency-optimized force safety mechanism to enhance external force safety in surgical robots.
• To develop advanced control strategies for approximating uncertainties and managing forces in robotic surgery.

Main Methods:

• Introduction of a sensorless transparency-optimized force safety mechanism.
• Design of an improved fixed-time indirect adaptive fuzzy controller to handle unknown dynamics.
• Implementation of an online force simulation controller based on hierarchical force principles.

Main Results:

• The fixed-time indirect adaptive fuzzy controller demonstrated superior performance in trajectory tracking, convergence, and control input smoothness.
• The online force simulation controller successfully reduced forces in potentially unsafe areas, mitigating risks.
• Simulations and experiments validated the effectiveness of the proposed control strategies.

Conclusions:

• The developed sensorless force safety mechanism shows significant potential for improving the safety of external forces in robotic surgery.
• This advancement contributes to safer and more reliable sensorless surgical robot applications.