Background: Delft University of Technology has developed two working prototypes of flexible instruments for surgery, together with a master-slave system. The master-slave system is compatible with the simple parallel cable configuration and the more complex parallel and diagonal cable configuration. It is assumed that the instrument with a complex cable configuration requires fewer segments, compared to an instrument with a simple cable configuration, to cover a complex path, with the same accuracy.
Study design: research
Methods: The two different cable configurations are modeled. The model will first determine the shapes one segment can form. Afterwards, the possible shapes of the segments are combined to judge the performance of the flexible instruments with an algorithm. The algorithm is purely kinematic and does not take forces into account.
Results: The results show a strong preference for the cable configuration with parallel and diagonal cables. This configuration needs fewer degrees of freedom to reach the same error.
Conclusion: Therefore it can be concluded that the cable configuration with parallel and diagonal cables is more promising in combination with the predesigned master-slave system.