A Rapid Instrument Exchange System for Humanoid Robots in Minimally Invasive Surgery
This addresses the problem of instrument exchange inefficiency for surgeons using humanoid robots in minimally invasive surgery, representing an incremental improvement.
The paper tackled the need for efficient instrument exchange in humanoid robots for minimally invasive surgery by proposing an immersive teleoperated system, which demonstrated high operational robustness and improved novice performance after brief training.
Humanoid robot technologies have demonstrated immense potential for minimally invasive surgery (MIS). Unlike dedicated multi-arm surgical platforms, the inherent dual-arm configuration of humanoid robots necessitates an efficient instrument exchange capability to perform complex procedures, mimicking the natural workflow where surgeons manually switch instruments. To address this, this paper proposes an immersive teleoperated rapid instrument exchange system. The system utilizes a low-latency mechanism based on single-axis compliant docking and environmental constraint release. Integrated with real-time first-person view (FPV) perception via a head-mounted display (HMD), this framework significantly reduces operational complexity and cognitive load during the docking process. Comparative evaluations between experts and novices demonstrate high operational robustness and a rapidly converging learning curve; novice performance in instrument attachment and detachment improved substantially after brief training. While long-distance spatial alignment still presents challenges in time cost and collaborative stability, this study successfully validates the technical feasibility of humanoid robots executing stable instrument exchanges within constrained clinical environments.