A new RCM mechanism for an ear and facial surgical application

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel RCM mechanism inspired by the agile eye architecture, designed for endoscopic ear and sinus surgeries, providing improved maneuverability and ergonomic benefits.

Contribution

The paper presents a new RCM mechanism based on agile eye architecture combined with a double parallelogram, enhancing endoscope handling in narrow surgical regions.

Findings

Mechanism provides a wide, singularity-free workspace.

Enables ergonomic positioning of patient and surgeon.

Improves visualization in middle ear and sinus surgeries.

Abstract

Since the insertion area in the middle ear or in the sinus cavity is very narrow, the mobility of the endoscope is reduced to a rotation around a virtual point and a translation for the insertion of the camera. This article first presents the anatomy of these regions obtained from 3D scanning and then a mechanism based on the architecture of the agile eye coupled to a double parallelogram to create an RCM. This mechanism coupled with a positioning mechanism is used to handle an endoscope. This tool is used in parallel to the surgeon to allow him to have better rendering of the medium ear than the use of Binocular scope. The mechanism offers a wide working space without singularity whose borders are fixed by joint limits. This feature allows ergonomic positioning of the patient's head on the bed as well as for the surgeon and allows other applications such as sinus surgery.