Optimal Design of a Medical Robot for Minimally Invasive Surgery

Abstract. This paper presents a framework for the optimisation of the design of a medical robot to accomplish minimally invasive surgery. Surgical interventions are analysed in terms of workspace and accuracy requirements. As optimisation criterion, the minimisation of the overall size of the robot is considered since a compact design is important in an overcrowded environment such as the operating room. Stress is laid on the formulation of reasonable measures for manipulability and accuracy which are included in the optimisation model as constraints. Furthermore, a method to allow for insensitive robot setups with respect to registration errors is established. Optimisation itself is carried out using genetic algorithms with a subsequent gradient-based method. As a result, the optimal link lengths of a medical robot are determined.