Pre-operative Offline Optimization of Insertion Point Location for Safe and Accurate Surgical Task Execution

In robotically assisted surgical procedures the surgical tool is usually inserted in the patient’s body through a small incision, which acts as a constraint for the motion of the robot, known as remote center of Motion (RCM). The location of the insertion point on the patient’s body has huge effects on the performances of the surgical robot. In this work we present an offline pre-operative framework to identify the optimal insertion point location in order to guarantee accurate and safe surgical task execution. The approach is validated using a serial-link manipulator in conjunction with a surgical robotic tool to perform a tumor resection task, while avoiding nearby organs. Results show that the framework is capable of identifying the best insertion point ensuring high dexterity, high tracking accuracy, and safety in avoiding nearby organs.