A Noninvasive Approach to Recovering the Lost Force Feedback for a Robotic-Assisted Insertable Laparoscopic Surgical Camera

Abstract

Fully insertable laparoscopic cameras feature more locomotive flexibility in a larger workspace compared to conventional trocar-based laparoscopes and thus represent a promising future of minimally invasive surgery. These cameras are principally anchored and actuated by transabdominal magnetic coupling. Although several proof-of-concept prototypes have shown the technical feasibility in terms of camera actuation and laparoscopic imaging, none of them are getting close to clinical practice due to concerns about safety. One common problem lies in that the interaction force between the camera and the abdominal wall tissue is completely unknown and not controlled. The camera is being manipulated in an open loop which exposes the patient to a high risk of being injured. In this paper, a noninvasive real-time camera-tissue interaction force measurement approach for an insertable laparoscopic camera is proposed, implemented, and validated.Ex-vivo experiments using a simulated abdominal cavity have demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach during anchoring, translation, and rotation camera behaviors. Potential surgical impacts enabled by the force feedback have also been exemplified by a robotic-assisted camera control experiment using shared autonomy.