Updates on the CYCLOPS system

 

Imperial College has been developing a lot of cool systems, a great example is the CYCLOPS. Some updates were reported at the latest ICRA in: "Surgical  task-space  optimisation  of  the  CYCLOPS  robotic  system". 

"The latest version of the CYCLOPS, targeting GI surgery and more specifically Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection. The system shown is currently undergoing extensive ex and in vivo animal trials. Some variations have also been developed: neuroCYCLOPS - A proof of concept of a hand-controlled CPDM for neurosurgical applications, and microCYCLOPS - A roboticed version of the neuroCYCLOPS which can be used for appications with cylindrical tissue retractors.

The CYCLOPS is a cable-driven parallel mechanism used for minimally invasive applications, with the ability to be customised to different surgical needs; allowing it to be made procedure- and patient-specific. For adequate optimisation, however, appropriate data on clinical constraints and task-space is required. Whereas the former can be provided through preoperative planning and imaging, the latter remains a problem, primarily for highly dexterous MIS systems. The current work focuses on the development of a task-space optimisation method for the CYCLOPS system and the development of a data collection method in a simulation environment for minimally invasive task-spaces. The same data collection method can be used for the development of other minimally invasive platforms. A case-study is used to illustrate the developed method for Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection (ESD). This paper shows that using this method, the system can be succesfully optimised for this application."