Control and Evaluation of a 7-Axis Surgical Robot for Laparoscopy

This paper describes the control and ergonomic evaluation of a ceiling mounted (or support frame suspended) 7-axis surgical robot (HISAR) f o r laparoscopic camera navigation. A key feature of the robot is that i t incorporates a passive wrist for natural compliance with the port of entry into the patient. The use of a previously reported constrained Cartesian controller is motivated and demonstrated, and the results of successfuIly applying this control methodology to the manipulator are presented. The significance of the control strategy is the ease with which control of passive axes, the fulcrum constraint, and the motion inversion effect created by the fulcrum are accommodated. W e also report on the results of laboratory evaluations of the arm in terms of its work volume, ergonomic factors, ease of control, and overall design within the context of laparoscopic camera control.