The SHURUI System: A Modular Continuum Surgical Robotic Platform for Multiport, Hybrid-Port, and Single-Port Procedures

In the past decades, numerous surgical robotic systems have been developed to improve dexterity, precision, and ergonomics in minimally invasive surgery (MIS). These robotic systems usually have different forms to accommodate the requirements from either multiport or single-port procedures. Unlike the design consensus in the multiport systems where distal-wristed and straightstemmed instruments are maneuvered by patient-side manipulators, different approaches are still being explored to verify the fulfillment of the clinical and functional requirements from single-port procedures. No systems have been shown to satisfactorily handle both the multiport and the single-port procedures. Utilizing the previously proposed dual continuum mechanism to realize a payload-enhanced multidegree of freedom surgical instrument with a tight bending wrist for intra-abdomen dexterity, it was found that the locations and the number of channels of the access ports can be freely configured. A modular surgical robotic platform is, hence, proposed for handling multiport, singleport, and for the first time hybrid-port procedures. The design concepts, system descriptions, teleoperation kinematics, experimental characterizations, and animal studies are reported. It is expected that suitable invasiveness, where a minimal number of skin incisions can always be used to treat a condition, is to be achieved by the proposed system. True potentials of the proposed system are to be verified in the coming larger scale animal studies and clinical trials.

Automated summary

The study highlights the importance of developing flexible and precise surgical robotic systems for minimally invasive surgery, and proposes a modular surgical robotic platform that can handle different types of procedures with potential adaptability. Further research involving larger animal studies and clinical trials is needed to verify the true potentials of the proposed system.