The design of continuous surgical robotic arms with variable stiffness material and magnetic guidance

In recent years, with the aging population and the increasing incidence of natural cavity diseases and cancer tumors, the demand for minimally invasive surgery has risen. This, in turn, requires robotic arms with greater flexibility and precision. However, traditional rigid surgical robotic arms make it difficult to meet these needs. This paper includes an illustration of the invention related to a continuous surgical robotic arm which is combined with magnetic guidance and a variable stiffness material. This paper aims to explore the advantages of continuum robots based on Phase Change Materials (PCMs) in surgical applications, especially through the stiffness adjustability of the material and the combination of magnetic materials to improve positioning accuracy. In this study, low-melting-point alloys were chosen as the variable stiffness material. This paper analyzed a flexible and precise surgical robotic arm by summarizing and combining previous experiments on the properties of low-melting alloys under different conditions and simulating magnetic navigation in complex environments. Through this design, the robots can enhance the safety, versatility and collaboration ability among the continuous robots, opening up new ways for endocavitary robotic surgery.