ESPRESSO: A novel device for laser-assisted surgery of the anterior eye segment.

Introduction: Merging robotics with laser eye surgery could enhance precision, repeatability and automation. During some eye laser procedures the patient is awake, thus eye stabilization is desired to avoid movements that could affect the treatment.

Material And Methods: The ESPRESSO platform has a two-stage actuation system to position a stabilization tool on the eye, a proximity sensing unit to monitor the stabilization tool position, and a sensing unit to monitor the pressure exerted on the eye.

Development and preliminary assessment of a robotic platform for neuroendoscopy based on a lightweight robot.

Background: Ventriculostomy is a widely performed neurosurgical procedure; some risk factors can be mitigated by computer/robot-assisted approaches. Platforms fostering synergistic robot-surgeon integration are pursued, for which lightweight robots with compliant controlled joints must be assessed (because compliance hampers accuracy).

Methods: We developed a platform encompassing, in particular, a lightweight robot and an optical tracker also used to enhance robot accuracy.

Towards accurate robot-assisted neuroendoscopy using an ergonomic handling interface and a lightweight robot.

We considered a robot-assisted neuroendoscopy, and we developed a handling interface for linking a clinically-used endoscope to a lightweight robot (tool holder) with 7 DoFs. Such a robot holds potential for soft interaction with the surgeon, yet its intrinsic compliance must be suitably tamed not to lose tool targeting accuracy. Starting from practical specifications by neurosurgeons, we designed, fabricated and preliminarily assessed a compact and ergonomic handling interface.

A novel robotic system for single-port laparoscopic surgery: preliminary experience.

Background: The concept of single-access procedures has gained greater attention from general surgeons during the past 5 years. Despite this wide momentum, these procedures pose several changes for the surgeon, such as impaired eye-hand coordination and restricted manipulation. In this context, robotic-assisted surgery represents a promising technology to enhance the dexterity of laparoscopic surgeons.

A novel intracorporeal assembling robotic system for single-port laparoscopic surgery.

Background: Single-port laparoscopic surgery (SPLS) is a novel surgical approach consisting of a single umbilical incision through which multiple instruments are inserted, thus avoiding additional incisions necessary in traditional multi-port laparoscopic surgery. SPLS imposes a number of ergonomic restrictions on the surgeon. As a partial solution, several dedicated instruments, including hand-held manipulators with 6 degrees of freedom (DOF), have been introduced to overcome these manipulative restrictions.