Minimally invasive surgery helps patients by accelerating postoperative recovery, however, it ishindered by the high operational skills required for the surgeon. We have developed a prototype of a masterslave combined manipulator (robotic forceps) for laparoscopic surgery that enhances the surgeon’s skill. Aslave hand and a master grip of the manipulator are combined by a shaft. Therefore the manipulator allowsboth rapid motion like a conventional forceps and fine motion by master slave control. This paper describessupport mechanisms for the robotic forceps. The developed support mechanism has weight compensationfunction, hold function and variable operational force function for slave hand position of robotic forceps. Theexperimental results show the effectiveness of the functions.
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