Bilateral Teleoperation of Flexible Surgical Robots

We introduce a position-exchange controller for bilateral teleoperation of flexible surgical robots. The controller requires the position of the master arm and the deformed shape of the slave arm, but no force information is required. The position-tracking controller of the master arm causes the master arm to follow the position of the tip of the slave arm. The position tracking controller of the slave arm causes the slave to follow the position of the master and also deforms the shape of the slave arm until the force generated at its tip matches the force applied to the master. The position exchange controller is illustrated using two systems. The first is a simple one degree of freedom flexible robot. The second system is a surgical robot constructed from a set of precurved superelastic concentric tubes. The control structure enables fast computation of the deformed shape kinematics of the slave arm using Cosserat rod theory. Simulation results show that the controller provides transparency at the low frequencies necessary for palpation of soft tissue.

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