• Mamoru Mitsuishi, Akio Morita, Naohiko Sugita, Shigeo Sora, Ryo Mochizuki, Keiji Tanimoto, Young Min Baek, Hiroki Takahashi, and Kanako Harada.
• School of Engineering, University of Tokyo, Hongo, Tokyo, Japan. mamoru@nml.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp
• Int J Med Robot. 2013 Jun 1; 9 (2): 180-9.

BackgroundMicrosurgery is a widely performed process in neurosurgery. However, it is difficult for surgeons because manipulating small and long instruments under a microscope often restricts dexterity. Hand tremors are also an issue, as the accuracy required for microsurgery is very high.MethodA master-slave robotic platform has been developed for neurosurgery. A position-orientation decoupled design was employed to enhance positioning accuracy, and a smooth trajectory generation method was developed.ResultThe robotic tasks exhibited improved positioning accuracy compared to manual tasks. Anastomoses of 0.3 and 0.5 mm artificial vessels were successfully performed in end-to-end and end-to-side fashion.ConclusionWith the robotic platform, the surgeon was able to perform a fine and complex task, which is very difficult with manual operation. The robotic system showed sufficient accuracy and dexterity, but with a longer task completion time. Further improvement of the dexterity and user interface is expected to realize better performance.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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