title: Master-slave robotic platform and its feasibility study for micro-neurosurgery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Microsurgery is a widely performed process in neurosurgery. However, it is difficult for surgeons because manipulating small and long instruments under a microscope often restricts dexterity. Hand tremors are also an issue, as the accuracy required for microsurgery is very high.
  
  
  METHODS
  A master-slave robotic platform has been developed for neurosurgery. A position-orientation decoupled design was employed to enhance positioning accuracy, and a smooth trajectory generation method was developed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The robotic tasks exhibited improved positioning accuracy compared to manual tasks. Anastomoses of 0.3 and 0.5 mm artificial vessels were successfully performed in end-to-end and end-to-side fashion.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With the robotic platform, the surgeon was able to perform a fine and complex task, which is very difficult with manual operation. The robotic system showed sufficient accuracy and dexterity, but with a longer task completion time. Further improvement of the dexterity and user interface is expected to realize better performance.
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering, University of Tokyo, Hongo, Tokyo, Japan. mamoru@nml.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp
authors.forename: Mamoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mitsuishi
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morita
authors.forename: Naohiko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sugita
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sora
authors.forename: Ryo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mochizuki
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanimoto
authors.forename: Young Min
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Baek
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Kanako
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Harada
mesh_terms: D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008328:Man-Machine Systems; D008866:Microsurgery / Q000295:instrumentation*; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D025321:Surgery, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014584:User-Computer Interface