Design of a Disposable Compliant Medical Forceps using Topology Optimization Techniques

In this paper, we propose a novel disposable compliant forceps for general open surgical applications, developed using topology optimization techniques. Compliant mechanisms are much easier to sterilize than rigid-joint-based mechanisms, hence they are often used in the design of disposable medical forceps for preventing the spread of diseases from reusable medical devices. However, it is time consuming and inefficient to use empirical methods for designing compliant forceps. To simplify the design process, topology optimization techniques are employed in this paper to automatically synthesize the shape of compliant forceps. The entire design process was performed in Matlab. The designed forceps was quickly fabricated with selective laser sintering (SLS) and can be disposed of after single-use. The clamping capability of the proposed forceps was evaluated by a series of simulations and experiments. Results showed that the forceps is reliable and robust under different loads in open surgical tasks. With the work presented in this paper, we can achieve automatic synthesis of disposable compliant forceps with high performance.