Surgical robots can work with high precision and provide minimally invasive surgery to surgeons. However, such a system is large and requires space in the operating room. The Harvard Wis Research Institute and a team from Sony developed a miniature remote center of motion manipulator (mini-RCM), a small robot inspired by origami.
The mini-RCM is the size of a tennis ball and weighs only one coin, but the research team constructed it using a technology called Pop-Up MEMS developed by Wiss Institute. Pop-up MEMS is a manufacturing technology developed by the research team of Professor Robert Wood of the Wis Research Institute. It is a pop-up like a picture book in which a three-dimensional shape pops out by laminating thin materials and laser cutting them.
Mini-RCM is said to have made and combined a small linear actuator using a piezoelectric ceramic material that makes the main moving part structure into a parallel link and changes its shape by the electric field driving it. The research team found that the mini-RCM could run 68% more than a manual tool. In a simulated environment, a needle was inserted into the eye to inject the drug into the rear area of the eyeball.
It still takes a lot of time before this little robot can actually be used in surgery that requires fine work. However, it can be said that a place that anyone can easily install with a size that can be easily carried is important to the on-site doctor. Related information can be found here .