Conception of a robot dedicated to neurosurgical operations

Stereotactic neurosurgery consists of the introduction of a small probe with a diameter of 2-3 mm through a hole drilled in the skull, in order to reach 'blindly' a point inside the brain which has previously been located, on scanner sections and marked by means of a reference system on the patient's head. The robot described has been built, partial tests have been carried out on cadavers and validated (positioning, skin incision and bone drilling, etc.. . .). The paper briefly explains the general design. Significant studies are being made concerning safety, reliability and robot-surgeon dialogue. The difficulty of developing a robot for surgery lies in the multidisciplinary aspect: problems in mechanics, electronics, computing, medicine, surgery and sterilization had to be tackled. >