Modified Laparoscopic Tool for Enhanced Haptic Feedback
Laparoscopic Devices are known to be used in Minimal Invasive Surgeries. However, the devices are unable to transmit the spectrum of feedback of the tissue to the hands of the surgeon, which makes the surgical procedure difficult. We have demonstrated a parameterization for the loss in feedback due to backlash and friction. Backlash is correlated to the joint clearances while friction correlates to joint clearance as well as the surface finish of mating pairs, though joint clearances don’t affect the friction coefficient largely. The laparoscope behavior has been dynamically modeled to understand and predict the behavior. Also, the cost to manufacture the graspers has been weighed against force bandwidth and reliability of improving the joint tolerances of the device so that it is able to transmit the desired force bandwidth. We conclude that to achieve kHz force bandwidth through purely mechanical means would entail prohibitively expensive manufacturing means and hence, we propose an alternate design. The alternate design makes the system deterministic without uncertainty in the position of the joint pins. The kinematically constrained joints in the new device completely transmit the input force spectrum at frequencies of multiple kHz. The non-sophisticated alteration in the original device doesn’t significantly alleviate the cost and eludes the loss of tactile sensation.