Design of a Novel Statically

Balanced Mechanism for

Laparoscope Holders With
Decoupled Positioning and
Orientating Manipulation
Introduction
• Laparoscope is a slender endoscope that is inserted through a small
incision on patient’s abdominal wall for exploring the vision inside the
abdomen.
• A laparoscope holder is a mechanical device with either active or
passive actuation.
• The active holders are equivalent to a motorized robotic arm that
drives the motion of the laparoscope by using electrical motors or
hydraulic pumps.
• The passive holders do not use any mechatronic actuation at all.
• Theoretically, a perfectly statically balanced mechanism has the ability
to completely eliminate the gravitational effect at any configuration.
• a special mechanism namely “RCM” mechanism had been suggested.
The major feature of an RCM mechanism is that some of its
mechanical links can always rotate about a fixed point and translate
against the point due to the kinematical constraints of the mechanism
itself.
• The mechanism is made by two connected submechanisms, namely
positioning mechanism and orientating mechanism.
 Design Requirements
Laparoscope holders, which should have :
• (1) Passive arm. The holder is a passive robotic arm, i.e., no mechatronic
actuation is required.
• (2) No mechanical locks. The holder can move to and stay at any
configuration without using mechanical locks.
• (3) RCM kinematics. In order to provide the best mechanical safety, the
holder should have the function of RCM, i.e., the motion of the laparoscope
can be constrained at a point coincident with the surgical incision.
• (4) Decoupled manipulation. The holder can control either the position or
the orientation of the laparoscope independently based on its inherent
kinematic constraints.
The Novel Design
• The positioning mechanism is a double parallelogram, and it is
attached to a based revolute joint forming a 3-degrees-of-freedom
(DOF) robotic arm.
• The orientating mechanism is a 4-DOF RCM parallel manipulator
whose end-effector holds the laparoscope.
• Based on this structure, the position of the RCM point is defined by
the positioning mechanism, whereas the orientation and insertion
depth of the laparoscope is controlled by the orientating mechanism.
It can be concluded that:
• (1) the laparoscope possesses a 4-DOF RCM motion
• (2) the RCM point realized by the positioning mechanism is coincident
with the RCM point generated by the orientating mechanism
• (3) the position of the RCM point is completely defined by the
positioning mechanism, while the 4-DOF laparoscope’s motion against
the RCM point is dominated by the orientating mechanism
Statically Balancing Design:
Assumptions
1. the gravitational acceleration g is 9.81 m/s2
2. the friction is not considered
3. all the springs have zero free lengths
4. all the springs satisfy the Hooke’s law, i.e., the spring coefficient is constant
5. the masses of springs are neglected
6. the mass of a link is concentrated at the geometric center of the link
7. the mass of the laparoscope is concentrated at the point coincident with
the RCM point
 Static Balancing of the Positioning
Mechanism:
 Notations:
• m1, m2, ma1, and ma2 : the masses of the major links of the
parallelogram,
• mp1 and mp2: masses of the two pseudo-base links
• mL: the masses of the end-effector link.
• mR: Suppose that the orientating mechanism and its holding
laparoscope are condensed as a single massive rigid body with
mass
• zero-free-length springs with coefficients k2 and k1
Static Balancing of the Orientating
Mechanism
 Notation
:
• Oij lij is the position vector pointing from Oij to Oi(j+1) expressed in coordinate frame
Oij;
• Oijcij is the position vector of the mass center of the jth link in the ith five-bar
expressed in coordinate frame Oij;
• Oi5 ri is the position vector of the combined mass center of the end-effector and
the laparoscope expressed in coordinate frame Oi5;
• Pri0 is the position vector of the base joint in the ith five-bar expressed in frame P;
and
• Pre is the position vector of the combined mass center of the end-effector and the
laparoscope expressed in frame P.
• PQij : the rotation matrix that transfers coordinate frame P to Oij and cij be angle
measured from axis xP to xij
Gravitational potential energy associated
with the orientating mechanism
Implementation of the Zero-Free-Length Springs
 Verificati
on
• Theoretical Model: The Positioning Mechanism
the coefficients of the two linear springs, k2 and k1, in the positioning
mechanism can be calculated as 0.691 and 1.613 N/mm, respectively
• Theoretical Model: The Orientating Mechanism
the coefficients of the four linear springs, k12, k13, k22, and k23, in
the orientating mechanism can be calculated as 0.0146, 0.0163,
0.0143, and 0.0159 N/mm
THANK YOU