Grasping of Soft Tissues By Means Of Non-Contact Gripper In Minimally Invasive Surgery

Surgeons need grippers to grasp and handling organs when performing Laparoscopic interventions. These grippers usually have toothed profile to prevent the slippage of the organs and therefore, tissue damage may occur during the operation. There should be a solution to this risk of damage. The tissue can manipulate without pinching or even touching it. Non-contact grippers that work with Bernoulli principle are used in the industrial field. The aim of the study investigates the feasibility of Bernoulli principle for manipulation soft tissues along minimally invasive surgery. In this study, a contactless gripper working with the principle of Bernoulli has been developed. Lifting force increases as a result of increasing the air flow velocity, gripper surface and nozzle radius. In order to prevent tissue damage, air deflector is used on gripper to change the direction of the air flow. The robot gripper was designed with venturi channels to increase the radial flow velocity. The effect of venturi channels on the lifting force were tested. This study demonstrate that a non-contact gripping device is applicable to lift flexible materials such as soft tissues in Minimally invasive surgery.

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