Tele-micromanipulation of Electrothermally Actuated Robotic Fibre for Precise Medical Applications

EasyChair Preprint 15291

Abstract

Tumour removal surgery aims to preserve healthy tissue while ensuring the complete excision of tumours, thereby reducing the risk of recurrence. The lack of precision of surgical instruments may lead to the over-excision of healthy tissue or residual diseased tissue, which results in more serious sequelae. Our study introduces the advancement with an electrothermally actuated robotic fibre designed for tumour resection. This robotic fibre enables precise manipulation of surgical laser fibres with sub-50µm accuracy. The fibre's slender profile, with an outer diameter of less than 2 mm, makes it suitable for minimally invasive surgery (MIS) applications. However, the robotic fibre's limited motion range (sub-centimetre) presents challenges, prompting us to integrate it with surgical instruments like laparoscopic and flexible endoscopic tools to extend its range of motion. This integration involves threading the robotic fibre through the working channel of an endoscope, necessitating a passive fibre length. In this work, we developed a partial actuation approach to only actuate the fibre’s 12cm distal end, out of a total length of 1.2 m, thereby reducing the actuation power usage and enhancing patient safety. This paper details the design and fabrication of the robotic fibre, along with the development of a telemanipulation algorithm for controlling its movement. We demonstrate the fibre's efficacy and potential for clinical application through integration with a customised da Vinci surgical instrument and testing within an abdominal phantom, serving as a proof-of-concept for future MIS advancements.

Keyphrases: Electrothermal actuation, Endoscopic surgery, Partial actuation, Precise surgery, Robotic fibre, phantom study, thermal expansion

@booklet{EasyChair:15291,
  author    = {Jinshi Zhao and Yue Li and Mohamed E. M. K. Abdelaziz and Bruno Gil Rosa and Libaihe Tian and Qindong Zheng and Burak Temelkuran},
  title     = {Tele-micromanipulation of Electrothermally Actuated Robotic Fibre for Precise Medical Applications},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 15291},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2024}}