A parallel robot to assist vitreoretinal surgery.

PURPOSE: This paper describes the development and evaluation of a parallel prototype robot for vitreoretinal surgery where physiological hand tremor limits performance.

METHODS: The manipulator was specifically designed to meet requirements such as size, precision, and sterilization; this has six-degree-of-freedom parallel architecture and provides positioning accuracy with micrometer resolution within the eye. The manipulator is controlled by an operator with a "master manipulator" consisting of multiple joints.

RESULTS: Results of the in vitro experiments revealed that when compared to the manual procedure, a higher stability and accuracy of tool positioning could be achieved using the prototype robot.

CONCLUSIONS: This microsurgical system that we have developed has superior operability as compared to traditional manual procedure and has sufficient potential to be used clinically for vitreoretinal surgery.