Using simulation to design control strategies for robotic no-scar surgery.

No-scar surgery, which aims at performing surgical operations without visible scars, is the vanguard in the field of Minimally Invasive Surgery. No-scar surgery can be performed with flexible instruments, carried by a guide under the vision of an endoscopic camera. This technique brings many benefits for the patient, but also introduces several difficulties for the surgeon. We aim at developing a teleoperated robotic system for assisting surgeons in this kind of operations. In this paper, we present a virtual simulator of the system that allows to assess different control strategies for our robot and to study possible mechanical issues.