A cost-effective and miniaturized actuation system for two three-tube concentric tube robots with parallel actuation

Continuum concentric tube robots are gaining interest from last two decades for use in minimally invasive surgeries. Progression of natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery and single incision laparoscopic surgery has put forth the need for new surgical tools and devices, and concentric tube robots are of key consideration for such applications. Actuation systems are among the few issues related to concentric tube robots that hinders their use in clinical procedures. In this paper, a low-cost actuation system for two three-tube concentric tube robots is introduced. The actuation system is miniaturized than the ones present in literature before. Actuation sequence of the presented system is sequential and the actuation device is modular with the ability to increase or decrease the number of tubes sufficing the need without any major alteration in the assembly. Another main aspect is parallel actuation of two manipulator arms with three tubes each from a single insertion port of 3mm internal diameter. A ligation tool is tested by the proposed actuation system for use in minimally invasive laparoscopic and endoscopic surgeries.