Soft and Stiffness-controllable Robotics Solutions for Minimally Invasive Surgery presents the results of a research project, funded by European Commission, STIFF-FLOP: STIFFness controllable Flexible and Learn-able manipulator for surgical Operations.

In Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS), tools go through narrow openings and manipulate soft organs that can move, deform, or change stiffness. There are limitations on modern laparoscopic and robot-assisted surgical systems due to restricted access through Trocar ports, lack of haptic feedback, and difficulties with rigid robot tools operating inside a confined space filled with organs. Also, many control algorithms suffer from stability problems in the presence of unexpected conditions. Yet biological "manipulators", like the octopus arm can manipulate objects while controlling the stiffness of selected body parts and being inherently compliant when interacting with objects. STIFF-FLOP robot is an innovative soft robotic arm that can squeeze through a standard MIS, reconfigure itself and stiffen by hydrostatic actuation to perform compliant force control tasks while facing unexpected situations.

Technical topics discussed in the book include:

• Soft actuators
• Continuum soft manipulators
• Control, kinematics and navigation of continuum manipulators
• Optical sensors for force, torque, and curvature
• Haptic feedback and human interface for surgical systems
• Validation of soft stiffness controllable robots

Chapter 1

Technology Selection
by Matteo Cianchetti, Tommaso Ranzani, Giada Gerboni and Arianna Menciassi
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Chapter 2

Design of the Multi-module Manipulator
by Tommaso Ranzani, Iris de Falco, Matteo Cianchetti and Arianna Menciassi
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Chapter 3

Soft Manipulator Actuation Module – with Reinforced Chambers
by Jan Fras, Mateusz Macias, Jan Czarnowski, Margherita Brancadoro, Arianna Menciassi and Jakub Gl-owka
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Chapter 4

Antagonistic Actuation Principle for a Silicone-based Soft Manipulator
by Ali Shiva, Agostino Stilli, Yohan Noh, Angela Faragasso, Iris De Falco, Giada Gerboni, Matteo Cianchetti, Arianna Menciassi, Kaspar Althoefer, and Helge A.Wurdemann
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Chapter 5

Smart Hydrogel for Stiffness Controllable Continuum Manipulators: A Conceptual Design
by Daniel Guevara Mosquera, S.M. Hadi Sadati, Kaspar Althoefer and Thrishantha Nanayakkara
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Chapter 6

Optical Force and Torque Sensor for Flexible Robotic Manipulators
by Yohan Noh, Sina Sareh, Emanuele Lindo Secco and Kaspar Althoefer
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Chapter 7

Pose Sensor for STIFF-FLOP Manipulator
by Sina Sareh, Yohan Noh, Tommaso Ranzani, Min Li and Kaspar Althoefer
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Chapter 8

The STIFF-FLOP Vision System
by Erwin Gerz, Matthias Mende and Hubert Roth
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Chapter 9

Inverse Kinematics Methods for Flexible Arm Control
by Anthony Remazeilles, Asier Fernandez Iribar and Alfonso Dominguez Garcia
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Chapter 10

Modelling and Position Control of the Soft Manipulator
by Jan Fras, Mateusz Macias, Jan Czarnowski and Jakub Glowka
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Chapter 11

Reactive Navigation for Continuum Manipulator in Unknown Environments
by Ahmad Ataka, Ali Shiva and Kaspar Althoefer
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Chapter 12

The Design of a Functional STIFF-FLOP Robot Operator’s Console
by Łukasz Mucha, Krzysztof Lis, Dariusz Krawczyk and Zbigniew Nawrat
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Chapter 13

Haptic Feedback Modalities for Minimally Invasive Surgery
by Min Li, Jelizaveta Konstantinova and Kaspar Althoefer
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Chapter 14

Force Feedback Sleeve Using Pneumatic and Micro Vibration Actuators
by Łukasz Mucha and Krzysztof Lis
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Chapter 15

Representation of Distributed Haptic Feedback Given via Vibro-tactile Actuator Arrays
by Anuradha Ranasinghe, AshrafWeheliye, Prokar Dasgupta, and Thrishantha Nanayakkara
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Chapter 16

RobinHand Haptic Device
by Krzysztof Lis, Łukasz Mucha, Krzysztof Lehrich and Zbigniew Nawrat
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Chapter 17

Benchmarking for Surgery Simulators
by Zbigniew Malota, Zbigniew Nawrat andWojciech Sadowski
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Chapter 18

Miniaturized Version of the STIFF-FLOP Manipulator for Cadaver Tests
by Giada Gerboni, Margherita Brancadoro, Alessandro Diodato, Matteo Cianchetti and Arianna Menciassi
Download as a PDF [1953KB] Downloads [16]

Chapter 19

Total Mesorectal Excision Using the STIFF-FLOP Soft and Flexible Robotic Arm in Cadaver Models
by Marco Ettore Allaix, Marco Augusto Bonino, Simone Arolfo, Mario Morino, Yoav Mintz and Alberto Arezzo
Download as a PDF [6805KB] Downloads [15]

Soft Robots, Surgical Robots, Medical Robots, Continuum manipulators, Soft actuators, Tactile and Force Sensing, Bending Sensors, Control of continuum manipulators, Haptic feedback, Surgical human interface, Benchmarking of surgical robots.