Miniaturization of surgical robots for insertion inside the peritoneal cavity has become a new trend in Robotic Minimally Invasive Surgery (R-MIS) [1-4]. Robots for laparo-endoscopic single site surgery (LESS) and natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery must be fast enough to react to surgeon input, and be capable of providing high levels of force for effective tissue interactions. Size is a key design factor for in vivo robotics. With conventional actuation methods (electric motors), there exists a tradeoff between the scale of the robot and its load capacity and actuation speed. An alternative actuation scheme is to exploit the high power density of fluidic (pneumatic or hydraulic) actuators. However, fabrication of miniature but powerful fluidic linear and rotary actuators with desired sizes has been a challenge due to difficulties in sealing at high pressures, obtaining necessary surface finishes, and associated cost of fabrication. In this paper we present design, fabrication, and initial testing of miniature pneumatic/hydraulic linear and rotary actuators and a fluid-actuated laparoscopic grasper that are seal-less, easy to fabricate, and inexpensive. The vision of this project is to incorporate these components in a surgical robotic arm.
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