Geometric Workspace Analysis and Transmission-Aware Dynamics of a Serial Spherical Tool for Microsurgery

2026-05-23

AI Summary

This study addresses the lack of efficient geometric modeling for the reachable workspace and the difficulty in accurately evaluating dynamic performance under self-locking transmission systems in existing serial spherical robotic tools for microsurgery. The work proposes an integrated kinematics- and transmission-aware design framework that rapidly determines rotational axis configurations through analytical workspace modeling and assesses torque requirements using an inverse dynamics model incorporating self-locking characteristics. The approach innovatively establishes a closed-form workspace representation without requiring numerical optimization and, for the first time, integrates self-locking transmission properties into dynamic analysis. Experimental validation on a vitreoretinal surgical robot demonstrates that the proposed model accurately predicts performance and effectively guides instrument design.

Abstract

We present a kinematic and transmission-aware design framework for a serial spherical mechanism with an additional translational degree of freedom for microsurgery. The first contribution is an analytical workspace formulation that provides geometric insight into reachable motion and enables rapid selection of rotation axis orientations without numerical optimization. The second contribution is a dynamics-informed methodology for mechanisms driven by self-locking transmissions, supporting evaluation of torque requirements for a prescribed workspace geometry. The framework is accompanied by an open-source software package for friction identification and inverse dynamics analysis. Experiments on a purpose-built robotic tool for vitreoretinal surgery validate the predictive capability of the models and demonstrate their practical utility for engineering design.

Problem

• geometric workspace
• transmission-aware dynamics
• serial spherical mechanism
• microsurgery
• inverse dynamics

Innovation

• workspace analysis
• transmission-aware dynamics
• serial spherical mechanism
• self-locking transmission
• inverse dynamics