pp. 1027-1039
S&M2157 Research Paper of Special Issue https://doi.org/10.18494/SAM.2020.2655 Published: March 19, 2020 Robotic Forceps with a Flexible Wrist Joint Made of Super Engineering Plastic [PDF] Dongbo Zhou, Kiyoshi Sanada, and Daisuke Haraguchi (Received October 13, 2019; Accepted November 25, 2019) Keywords: robotic forceps, flexible wrist, super engineering plastic, continuum joint
A pair of miniaturized robotic forceps with a flexible wrist joint has a problem of a trade-off
relationship between rigid and flexible characteristics of the joint with metal parts. Regarding
the problem, in this paper, we present a pair of robotic forceps in which the flexible wrist is
made of super engineering plastic that is widely used for medical instruments because of its
superior heat resistance, chemical stability, and mechanical strength. A prototype flexible wrist
part is designed using polyetheretherketone (PEEK) with 12 machined slits, and the bending
and grasping motions of the forceps are realized by wire actuation. The performance evaluation
results show that the PEEK flexible joint can maintain its bending range even if an axial
compressive force is exerted. It is durable to a compressive force of 30 N, and the relationship
between the compression extent and the compression force is linear. The PEEK flexible joint
is durable to bending up to 10000 times without markedly changing its bending mechanical
property. Finally, it is rigid enough to output a force more than 1.2 N from the forceps gripper
to the environment. Experimental results in this study indicate that the developed forceps has a
basic feasible performance for robotic surgery.
Corresponding author: Daisuke HaraguchiThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Cite this article Dongbo Zhou, Kiyoshi Sanada, and Daisuke Haraguchi, Robotic Forceps with a Flexible Wrist Joint Made of Super Engineering Plastic, Sens. Mater., Vol. 32, No. 3, 2020, p. 1027-1039. |