Optimal Mechanical Design of an Endoscope Holder for Robot-Assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery System

Abstract Minimally invasive surgery procedures involve the handling of a camera system called the endoscope. Nowadays, endoscopes with rigid telescopes are sometimes handled by an assistive robot system for operating the endoscope about a pivot point. The design of the endoscope holder to be assembled on a readily available robot arm presents new challenges when this assistive robot system works alongside the surgeon. This study addresses these challenges and proposes an optimal design procedure for the endoscope holder to be attached to a readily available robot arm. The proposed design procedure aims to improve the motion control quality about the pivot point while minimizing the positional uncertainty for maintaining the pivot point location. The constructional design of the endoscope holder is presented alongside the assessments on the manufactured prototype.