Design and control of a robotic system for assistive laser phonomicrosurgery

This paper presents the design, implementation and control of a novel robotic system for assistive laser phonomicrosurgeries. The goals here are to improve the precision, the controllability, the safety and the ergonomics of traditional transoral laser laryngeal surgeries. Successful steps achieved by the developed system in those directions are presented here, including the design, control and characterization of a novel laser micromanipulator system. Such system is shown to achieve very fast (181 mm/s) and accurate (1 μm resolution) laser beam aiming within an 11 × 11 mm target area. The design and implementation of a high-level control system for safe operation of the new laser phonomicrosurgery equipment is also described in this paper. This controller runs on a personal computer, offering a comfortable and safe surgical environment for the surgeon. In addition, it implements safe teleoperation by allowing the definition of safe and exclusion zones for surgical laser aiming. Automation of ablation procedures is also implemented on this high-level controller and described here. This feature adds an extra level of safety for phonomicrosurgeries by allowing the precise execution of surgical plans defined by the surgeon.