Actuation Technique for Miniature Robots Developed Using Multiphysics Simulation

Minimally invasive surgery depends on small, flexible tools with reliable actuation and consistent performance. Robotic devices have entered the operating room as assistants to procedures requiring hours of standing on the part of the surgeon. But many robotic surgery devices are expensive, bulky, and exhausting to operate. Christine Rotinat, researcher at the Systems and Technologies Integration Laboratory of the French Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission (CEA LIST) Gif-sur-Yvette, France, has sought to create an alternative. By making miniature robotic manipulators easier to build and operate, she hopes to offer a less expensive actuator than those currently used in surgical devices.