An Active Steering Hand-Held Robotic System for Minimally Invasive Orthopaedic Surgery Using a Continuum Manipulator

This letter presents the development and experimental evaluation of an active steering hand-held robotic system for milling and curved drilling in minimally invasive orthopaedic interventions. The system comprises a cable-driven continuum dexterous manipulator (CDM), an actuation unit with a handpiece, and a flexible, rotary cutting tool. Compared to conventional rigid drills, the proposed system enhances dexterity and reach in confined spaces in surgery, while providing direct control to the surgeon with sufficient stability while cutting/milling hard tissue. Of note, for cases that require precise motion, the system is able to be mounted on a positioning robot for additional controllability. A proportional-derivative (PD) controller for regulating drive cable tension is proposed for the stable steering of the CDM during cutting operations. The robotic system is characterized and tested with various tool rotational speeds and cable tensions, demonstrating successful cutting of three-dimensional and curvilinear tool paths in simulated cancellous bone and bone phantom. Material removal rates (MRRs) of up to 571 mm(3)/s are achieved for stable cutting, demonstrating great improvement over previous related works.

Automated summary

The letter discusses the development and evaluation of an active steering hand-held robotic system for milling and curved drilling in minimally invasive orthopaedic interventions. The system offers improved stability and flexibility for surgery in confined spaces, with successful cutting demonstrated at various tool rotational speeds and cable tensions. The system shows great improvement in material removal rates compared to previous works.