Design of Automatic Tool Replacement Mechanism for Laparoscopic Surgical Robot Arm for Solo Surgery

Background: Laparoscopic robotic surgery requires intraoperative tool replacement owing to the limited number of surgical tools that can be used simultaneously. Currently, this process is performed by a surgical assistant. However, automatic tool replacement is essential for surgeons when operating alone. Methods: An initial design was constructed by analysing the FAST diagram of the surgical tool replacement process. It was then modified to arrive at the final design by considering the driving range of the robot arm. Results: Based on the final design, both simulation and robot arm manufacturing were performed and validated. The results showed that the posture could be maintained during tool replacement, and the entire tool replacement process could be performed in 15 s. Conclusions: The mechanism developed for the automatic replacement of surgical tools is expected to address the shortage of surgical staff and skill level of surgical assistants.