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3D printing of improved needle grasping instrument for flexible robotic surgery

Suturing is an essential requirement for surgical robots. Current designs of needle drivers require significant forces to be applied so that the needle will not flip or slip between the jaws when inserted into the tissue. The required force implies that most designs are based on rigid instruments with a straight shaft that induces less dexterity. Flexible robotics provides great dexterity to achieve the task, although often it lacks the capability to apply large forces and therefore hold the surgical needle firmly. Solutions can be found in how the needle driver's jaws are designed. This paper presents improved designs for needle grasping tools for flexible robotic instruments, to be produced directly with selective laser melting. Features on the gripping surface were embedded to increase the gripping effectiveness even in the presence of limited grasping force. A detailed characterisation has been performed for each design showing improvements with respect to the state of the art.