Conceptual design of space biosurgeon for robotic surgery and aerospace medicine

The surgeon needs excellent manual dexterity and precision in order to optimize skills applied in hand-eye coordination and visual-spatial localization. On the other hand, during the surgical procedure the patient requires safety, minimally invasive incisions, shorter hospital stay and effective recovery. Therefore, a research study was conducted from 2016 to 2019 at Universitat Internacional Valenciana, in order to suggest the design of a futurist tele-operated Surgical Robotic System prototype, combining the efficiency of the robots used in microsurgery with the synchronized accuracy of the technology used in aerospace medicine, considered the first of its kind in Latin America. For applications on The Earth, the main objective of this project is to show an alternative to provide mechatronic support in advanced laparoscopic surgical procedures applied for General and Gastrointestinal Surgery. The proposed Medical Robotic Device called "Space Biosurgeon"has 4 robotic arms with 8 degrees of freedom (DOF) that allow performing semi-automated tasks controlled by the surgeon while a robotic axis slides vertically through anatomical planes of the patient. In the design process, the International Standard IEC 80601-2-77 was applied using SolidWorks for computer-aided design and Matlab for simulation, taking into account patient safety, quality and effectiveness for innovation in surgical incision approach and Single Port Surgery. In addition, a Clinical Engineering analysis is developed, showing the interaction between the 4 important factors in the operating room, which are the physician/surgeon, the patient, the robot and the hospital environment. In conclusion, the application for Aerospace Medicine is the early detection of gastrointestinal diseases by coupling an ultrasound transducer. Furthermore, is planned to integrate sensors for vital signs monitoring, and the first small-scale prototype will be implemented in 2022.