A Four-DOF Laparo-Endoscopic Single Site Platform for Rapidly-Developing Next-Generation Surgical Robotics

Minimally-invasive laparoscopic procedures have proven efficacy for a wide range of surgical procedures, but have notable shortcomings, including limited instrument motion and reduced dexterity. Endoscopic robots, like the intuitive surgical da Vinci system, have become an effective tool for many types of surgeries; however, these tools still have fundamental limitations with manipulator access, which reduces their effectiveness for many surgical procedures, like colectomy, cholecystectomy, and gynecologic oncology. Laparo-endoscopic single-site (LESS) robots operate in vivo, and overcome many of these limitations. Here, a four-degrees of freedom (DOF) surgical robot is presented as a tool to enable refinement of the LESS platform as a surgical tool, while also looking forward to applications in telesurgery and haptic feedback.