Fine orientation control of an insertable robotic camera system for single incision laparoscopic surgery.

BACKGROUND: Insertable laparoscopic camera systems were developed to improve the minimally invasive surgeries. Robotic degrees of freedom for an insertable laparoscopic camera are required to adjust the camera's orientation and position inside an abdominal cavity. METHODS: This paper demonstrates an insertable magnetic actuated robotic camera system with two-degree-of-freedom (2-DoF) orientation control for single incision laparoscopic surgery. The camera system design consists of an external magnetic control unit and a fully insertable camera capsule. This system features a unified mechanism for anchoring, navigating, and rotating the insertable camera capsule by externally generated rotational magnetic field from the control unit. The motor-free camera capsule is encapsulated in an one-piece housing with two ring-shaped tail-end magnets and one cylindrical central magnet. The control unit that positioned externally consists of both permanent magnets and electromagnetic coils to generate rotational magnetic field and control the camera capsule. RESULTS: The experimental investigations indicated that the camera control system can achieve less than 1° control accuracies with average errors 0.594° and 0.524° for tilt motion and pan motion, respectively. CONCLUSION: The designed control system provides fine orientation control for the insertable camera capsule which guarantees proper vision for the surgeon during single incision laparoscopic surgery.