Background: Natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) is aided by the instrument channel of an endoscope. Limited by the diameter of the endoscope, the construction of the operation triangle is affected. This paper presents a deployable arm that can increase the distance between the arms.
Methods: The manipulation arm is composed of a continuum arm and a deployable arm. The deployable arm can be locked by a stay cable and a mechanical structure. The angle between the end-effectors and the common workspace of the two manipulation arms are comprehensively analysed. Through experiments, the design parameters are validated and justified.
Results: The experiment shows that the deployment arm can maintain the deformation within 3.5 mm under a 300 g load, and the angle between the two end-effectors can be maintained within the range of [88°, 110°].
Conclusions: The novel deployment arms enlarge the angle between the end effectors, which significantly improves the flexibility of the arms.
Keywords: common workspace; deployable arm; flexible surgical instrument arm; operation triangle; surgical robot.
© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.