A novel SMA driven soft manipulator for minimally invasive surgery

This study aimed at the design and fabrication of a modular soft robotic manipulator for use in Minimally Invasive Surgeries(MIS). A single segment of such manipulator was fabricated with soft silicone polymer and three Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) spring wires connected 120 apart were used as actuators. Prilimary experiments conducted on a couple of such segments connected one over the other showed very promising results. A single segment with only one wire actuated showed a bending angle of 41 while two segments connected end to end showed a bending angle of 84. The prototype is an improvement over all existing manipulation systems used in MIS in terms of bending angle, actuation time and recovery time and is capable of attaining complex orientations in 3D space.