Development of a robotic navigation and fracture fixation system.

The use of robotics in surgery is nothing new. However, there are areas of surgery, such as in fracture fixation, where robots have yet to be implemented. This paper considers the choice of robot, gripper and ancillary equipment together with navigation systems necessary for their application. Hitherto robots have seen operation in surgery only in cases where relatively low manipulation forces are required. Nothing yet exists with the capability of handling forces in excess of 200 Newton as would be required in the above scenario. Another encumbrance to robots which are already in medical use is the difficulty in programming. Unfortunately most of these robots are programmed by specialists for a particular application. However, there exists a number of robot programming languages, like Unimation VA-LII (recently superceded by Stäubli V+), which do not require specialist knowledge. The application of industrial robots to the "heavier" side of modern surgery is without doubt technically realisable. The remainder of this research project aims to determine exactly which robots and what ancilliary equipment are needed and then to implement them, first on plastic models and later on cadavers. A second phase is expected to deal with type approval and a final third phase with operations on live patients.