By ©[2016] Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (©[2016] Intuitive Surgical, Inc.) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The SARAS system will be developed in three increasingly complex platforms.

Each platform implements some of the SARAS results that will be exploited and extended by the next ones.

The three platforms are:

1. MULTIROBOTS SURGERY PLATFORM: a multimaster/ multi-slave (MMMS) bilateral teleoperation system

2. SOLO-SURGERY PLATFORM:  the system will be autonomous and will play the role of the assistant to help the main surgeon at the master console

3. LAPARO2.0-SURGERY PLATFORM: as in the previous platform the system will play the role of the assistant with the main surgeon using standard handheld laparoscopic tools

PLATFORM 1: THE MULTIROBOTS-SURGERY

This MULTIROBOTS-SURGERY platform will be an example of multimaster/ multi-slave (MMMS) bilateral teleoperation system, where two users cooperate on a shared environment by means of a telerobotics setup.

In this scenario the main surgeon will be seated at the master console and will control the master tools, whereas the assistant surgeon will teleoperate standard laparoscopic tools mounted at the end effectors of the SARAS arms through other haptic devices. The assistant surgeon will perform the same actions as in standard robotic surgery, but this time by teleoperating  the tools instead of moving them manually.

This example shows two teleoperated console.

This MULTIROBOTS SURGERY platform will allow the acquisition of the training data for the cognitive and perception modules; the Perception module takes care of understanding the complexity of the surgical area, by reconstructing, labelling and tracking all its elements as observed by the available sensors; the Cognitive module learns from real intervention data the structure of complex laparoscopic procedures to identify anomalies, understand the surgeon’s actions (situation awareness), and his/her future needs (decision making);

Senior Surgeon Umberto Capitanio is teleoperating the da Vinci during phantoms testing.

The MULTIROBOTS-SURGERY platform will be tested on accurate physical models of the human abdomen and pelvic region; phantoms manufactured using 3D printing and based on human CT, MRI and ultrasound imaging. These phantoms will reproduce the anatomy and key mechanical properties of human organs and internal structures to allow realistic simulation of procedures with the SARAS system for pre-clinical study.

Phantom are physical models of the human body, in this case of the pelvic region.