Crimped braided sleeves for soft, actuating arm in robotic abdominal surgery.
BACKGROUND
This paper investigates different types of crimped, braided sleeve used for a soft arm for robotic abdominal surgery, with the sleeve required to contain balloon expansion in the pneumatically actuating arm while it follows the required bending, elongation and diameter reduction of the arm.


METHODS
Three types of crimped, braided sleeves from PET (BraidPET) or nylon (BraidGreyNylon and BraidNylon, with different monofilament diameters) were fabricated and tested including geometrical and microstructural characterisation of the crimp and braid, mechanical tests and medical scratching tests for organ damage of domestic pigs.


RESULTS
BraidPET caused some organ damage, sliding under normal force of 2-5 N; this was attributed to the high roughness of the braid pattern, the higher friction coefficient of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) compared to nylon, and the high frequency of the crimp peaks for this sleeve. No organ damage was observed for the BraidNylon, attributed to both the lower roughness of the braid pattern and the low friction coefficient of nylon. BraidNylon also required the lowest tensile force during its elongation to similar maximum strain as that of BraidPET, translating to low power requirements.


CONCLUSIONS
BraidNylon is recommended for the crimped sleeve of the arm designed for robotic abdominal surgery.
Department of Mechanical Engineering Sciences, University of Surrey , Guildford, UK.
Yahya
Y
Elsayed
Constantina
C
Lekakou
Tommaso
T
Ranzani
Matteo
M
Cianchetti
Mario
M
Morino
Alberto
A
Arezzo
Arianna
A
Menciassi
Tao
T
Geng
Chakravarthini M
CM
Saaj
D000005:Abdomen / Q000601:surgery*; D000818:Animals; D004867:Equipment Design; D009757:Nylons; D011093:Polyethylene Terephthalates; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013552:Swine
D009757:Nylons; D011093:Polyethylene Terephthalates
Abdominal surgery; braided sleeves; crimped sleeves; pneumatic actuation; soft robots