Design and Simulation of Laparoscopic Robot for Fiber Optic Sensor Delivery

In order to solve the problems of pivot effect, lack of flexibility and limited operating space of the rigid instrument arm of a single-hole laparoscopic surgical robot, this paper designs a miniaturised, highly flexible single-hole, triple-arm CTRs for fibre-optic sensor delivery. A modular design approach is employed to divide the robot mechanism into two parts: the drive unit and the tube. This is based on the motion characteristics of the robot structure. The drive unit is designed with an innovative box configuration and combined layout, which optimises the robot structure and makes it more compact and efficient. The influence of the drive unit on the overall performance of the concentric tube robot is fully considered, providing a reference for the universal design of concentric tube robots. The Monte Carlo method was employed to analyse the workspace of the robot, taking the rotation angle and linear displacement as the active input conditions. The results demonstrated that the workspace of the robot is significantly matched with the surgical space. By studying the constitutive relationship between the drive unit and the tube, a new reference idea is provided for the design of concentric tube robots oriented to the needs of specific surgical tasks.