With the proliferation of successful minimally invasive surgical techniques, comes the challenge of shrinking the size of surgical instruments further to facilitate use in applications such as neurosurgery, pediatric surgery, and needle procedures. This paper introduces laser machined, multi-degree-of-freedom (DOF) hinge joints embedded on tubes, as a possible means to realize such miniature instruments without the need for any assembly. A method to design such a joint for an estimated range of motion was explored. The effects of design and machining parameters on the mechanical interference, range of motion, and joint dislocation were analyzed. The extent of interference between the moving parts of the joint can be used to predict the range of motion of the joint for rigid tubes and future design optimization. The total usable workspace was also estimated using kinematic principles for a joint in series and for two sets of orthogonal joints. Our work can open up avenues to a new class of miniature robotic medical devices with hinge joints and a usable channel for drug delivery.
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February 2018
Research-Article
Design and Fabrication of Laser-Machined Hinge Joints on Miniature Tubes for Steerable Medical Devices
Shivanand Pattanshetti,
Shivanand Pattanshetti
BioRobotics Laboratory,
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Texas A&M University,
College Station, TX 77843
e-mail: shivanandvp@tamu.edu
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Texas A&M University,
College Station, TX 77843
e-mail: shivanandvp@tamu.edu
Search for other works by this author on:
Seok Chang Ryu
Seok Chang Ryu
BioRobotics Laboratory,
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Texas A&M University,
College Station, TX 77843
e-mail: scryu@tamu.edu
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Texas A&M University,
College Station, TX 77843
e-mail: scryu@tamu.edu
Search for other works by this author on:
Shivanand Pattanshetti
BioRobotics Laboratory,
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Texas A&M University,
College Station, TX 77843
e-mail: shivanandvp@tamu.edu
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Texas A&M University,
College Station, TX 77843
e-mail: shivanandvp@tamu.edu
Seok Chang Ryu
BioRobotics Laboratory,
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Texas A&M University,
College Station, TX 77843
e-mail: scryu@tamu.edu
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Texas A&M University,
College Station, TX 77843
e-mail: scryu@tamu.edu
Manuscript received April 11, 2017; final manuscript received October 31, 2017; published online December 20, 2017. Assoc. Editor: Robert J. Wood.
J. Mechanisms Robotics. Feb 2018, 10(1): 011002 (8 pages)
Published Online: December 20, 2017
Article history
Received:
April 11, 2017
Revised:
October 31, 2017
Citation
Pattanshetti, S., and Ryu, S. C. (December 20, 2017). "Design and Fabrication of Laser-Machined Hinge Joints on Miniature Tubes for Steerable Medical Devices." ASME. J. Mechanisms Robotics. February 2018; 10(1): 011002. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4038440
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