Intraoperative Kinematic Analysis of Autonomous Cornea Suturing Surgical Robot for Keratoplasty

During corneal transplantation, 16~24 submillimeter-sized sutures are generated around the circular graft cornea. Two major challenges for doctors during corneal transplantation are fatigue after long operation and the physiological trembling around 180 µm. In this study, an automated corneal suturing surgical robot is proposed so as to assist doctors to complete sutures including needle insertion and knot tying. The proposed keratoplasty robot manipulates the cornea tissue through two grippers with high degree of freedom. Forward and inverse kinematics of the robot for motion control are analyzed. A simulation using the virtual model is conducted and the result is compared with the theoretical kinematics. As a result, the proposed robot is able to generate suturing action as the designed motion control model.