Scorpion Shaped Endoscopic Surgical Robot for NOTES and SPS With Augmented Reality Functions

In the process of developing an endoscopic surgical robot system that adapts to NOTES (Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery) and SPS (Single port surgery), by making the tip a soft tubular structure and adding an augmented reality function to the system, we were able to improve the general function of the surgical robot system. First, we added a haptic sense function to avoid breaking the soft tissue and to avoid the danger of cutting it. These occur due to the small size of the touching surface between the tip of the robot arm and the soft tissue. We were able to conduct operation by feeding back to the surgeon the force applied to the soft tissue by detecting the haptic sense of the small forceps at the tip through measuring the tension variation at the base of the wire that drives the robot arm. We also mounted various numbers of augmented reality function such as grasping the exact location of the surgical robot inside the human body and information on how the robot is reaching the location of surgery. As a result, we were able to build a system that can conduct safe surgery with the system's two main characteristics - the smallness and the high degree of freedom to move.