A Custom Manipulator for Dental Implantation Through Model-Based Design

This paper presents a Model-Based Design (MBD) approach for the design and control of a customized manipulator intended for drilling and positioning of dental implants accurately with minimal human intervention. While performing an intra-oral surgery for a prolonged duration within a limited oral cavity, the tremor of dentist's hand is inevitable. As a result, wielding the drilling tool and inserting the dental implants safely in accurate position and orientation is highly challenging even for experienced dentists. Therefore, we introduce a customized manipulator that is designed ergonomically by taking in to account the dental chair specifications and anthropomorphic data such that it can be readily mounted onto the existing dental chair. The manipulator can be used to drill holes for dental inserts and position them with improved accuracy and safety. Furthermore, a thorough multi-body motion analysis of the manipulator was carried out by creating a virtual prototype of the manipulator and simulating its controlled movements in various scenarios. The overall design was prepared and validated in simulation using Solid works, MATLAB and Simulink through Model Based Design (MBD) approach. The motion simulation results indicate that the manipulator could be built as a prototype readily.