Construction of a suction cup containing integrated mobile micro robot for surgery support in the abdominal cavity

NOTES (Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery), a recently developed form of minimally invasive surgery, has attracted attention as a new laparoscopic operation. However, manipulation of forceps throughout the surgery continues to be a burden to surgeons. Our previous research focused on designing a model that could carry forceps and a camera through the abdominal cavity. The robot moves on the abdominal wall upside down, operated with six wires which realize the relative motion of two suction cups attached or detached from the abdominal wall alternatively during movement. The robot could move forward/backward, turn right/left motion and move up/down. However the robot body containing commercialized products and self-designed parts was too big for the use in real surgery. In this study, we devised an integrated robot with built-in suction cups, air ducts and housings, all made of a rubber-like material, for the miniaturization. For feasibility study, an adsorption experiment and flow analysis of the suction cups were carried out. Results showed that sufficient adsorption force could be obtained from the integrated robot. This raised the possibility that this robot system can be used for NOTES support.