Increasingly complex medical interventions require the development of powerful tools for diagnostics and therapy. Devices and instruments that perform a variety of functions and, in the case of surgical tools, often offer numerous degrees of freedom, pose special challenges to the user. For example, the advantages of minimally invasive surgery, such as shortened convalescence and better cosmetic results, are accompanied by numerous disadvantages, such as the non-intuitive and limited handling of the instrument tip, the loss of direct haptic feedback for the surgeon, and his or her unergonomic working posture. In the area of telepresence and telemanipulation, we investigate systems whose manipulators (slaves) are controlled by input devices (masters). Focus is on the application-oriented design of input devices with kinesthetic and tactile haptic feedback as well as the cost-efficient realization by using industrial robots, standard components as well as conventional surgical instruments. Furthermore, we are testing control algorithms for the integration of haptic feedback.
Control of an articulated robotic arm with a 3 DOF haptic input device for surgical telemanipulation
Interface for the actuation of robotic guided laparoscopic instruments with multiple DOF
Measuring Interaction Forces in Surgical Telemanipulation Using Conventional Instruments
