Highly precise master-slave robot system for super micro surgery

Super micro surgery in neurosurgical field is very challenging problem because neurosurgeons handle very tiny object through a microscope. Advances in technology such as microscope make micro surgery possible, but manipulating small instruments under the circumstance of microscope restricts the humans' dexterity even in the constrained workspace. To perform micro surgery successfully, we have developed a master-slave surgical robot system. Our objective is to achieve the high accuracy of positioning and improving operability of micro surgery. In this paper, we address mainly mechanical design issues of slave manipulator and control system. We evaluated our system through suturing experiments with fine artificial blood vessels. The preliminary results show the improvement of surgeon's dexterity and operability.