Design of Automatic Tool Replacement Mechanism for Laparoscopic Surgical Robot Arm for Solo Surgery.

Abstract

Laparoscopic robotic surgery requires intraoperative tool replacement owing to the limited number of surgical tools that can be used simultaneously. Currently, this process is performed by a surgical assistant. However, automatic tool replacement is essential for surgeons when operating alone. An initial design was constructed by analysing the FAST diagram of the surgical tool replacement process. It was then modified to arrive at the final design by considering the driving range of the robot ar