Development of a Control System for a Parallel Robot Used in Minimally Invasive Surgery

For the use of robotic systems in applications like minimally invasive surgical procedures, adequate control is necessary. Because of the direct interaction with the patient, safety is a critical aspect in robot control. This paper presents a simple and robust, open-architecture control system for an innovative parallel robot designed for the positioning of the laparoscopic instrument in minimally invasive surgery. The use of intelligent actuators, modular programming and CANOpen data transmission protocol, enabled the development of a simple, compact and fast control system that can be extended for the command of multiple robotic arms. The developed user interface with the specific commands used during the surgical procedures and the experimental model of the parallel robot are presented.