Gross positioning system for in vivo surgical devices

Abstract

Robotic surgery has been shown to have many advantages over current minimally invasive surgical techniques; however positioning such devices can be a challenging task for surgical technicians. The only commercially available gastrointestinal surgical robot, the da Vinci® S Surgical System (Intuitive Surgical, Sunnyvale, CA) often requires timely repositioning of the patient, robot, or both when used to perform complicated procedures [1]. Such systems face the same constraints experienced by standard laparoscopic instruments; their inability to work in multiple quadrants of the abdominal cavity hinders their ability to perform complicated surgical procedures. The capability to work within multiple quadrants without repositioning the surgical ports becomes extremely important for complex procedures such as colon resection that require tissue manipulation in multiple quadrants.