Building a DIY Surgical Robot

Pls hit the like button so I can buy more medical waste!!!

References:

Build Materials:

Thanks for watching :)

[thethoughtemporium]

this is objectively dope AF. I had no idea you could buy the pieces but it makes perfect sense. Can't wait to see this on a robotic arm, and maybe build my own one day

[_XMB_]

Imagine using this as a soldering bot, it would make microwiring and board repair so much easier

[potatomeatlabs]

I'm a software engineer and actually developed software to control an autonomous surgical robot (which mostly did suturing, anastomoses, etc.). We had some preclinical success on pigs, but eventually the team went our separate ways. One person actually joined Intuitive. As part of my design process, I was actually able to sit in and watch a minimally invasive surgery which used the daVinci robot, and use the robot myself to suture up some silicone training pads. It's surprisingly 'intuitive'... even for non-trained surgeons like myself. However, our platform we developed used completely custom tooling, and a 6-DOF arm from KUKA, along with a bunch of expensive fancy cameras.

Anyway, it's cool to see other people working on similar projects in a personal capacity. It's a neat field and challenging problem, especially when you throw in robotic autonomy.

[guiwood]

Certified Da Vinci robotic surgeon here. A few comments:

- Yes, it is awesome to use one. Not only the range of motion and precision, but also the 3d high definition vision inside of a patient.
- the instruments you were able to get are from the Da Vinci Si. This version is deprecated and if I am not mistaken, they are not being produced anymore. The new version (Xi) uses instruments that work similarly, but are not compatible (planned obsolescence for sure, the Xi offers very few benefits over the Si, which was already very good, they lost some of their patents).
- you control the instruments with two joysticks. There are pedals that you use when you want to change to another arm and control another instrument, or when you want to control the camera. In your device you may be able to control rotation and opening and closing of the instrument. What is still missing in your device is advancing and retracting, and hovering your instrument. The Da Vinci relies on a "remote center" in the trocar. Therefore, it won't damage the patient's belly when moving.

Overall, great work! Feel free to DM me if you need some help!

[hacksmith]

Hey!! I've got a few fairly good robot arms... and I'm working on setting up a system using this! Lemme know if you wanna chat!

[claytonwiley]

I feel like I stumbled into a viral channel and accidentally hit the reset button on subscribers and view counts. This is incredibly professionally edited, entertaining, and interesting, I can tell this channel is about to blow up. First success my algorithm has had in awhile! New sub :)

[LtMooch]

Believe it or not they had a demonstration set up in a hospital I was at once. They let regular people operate it and it was super intuitive. The input had a view finder that showed the two sets of claws you were manipulating. Each hand had two finger loops mounted on armatures that let you operate the grabbers. The coolest part is that everything had a slight force feedback system so you could feel how you were interacting with the objects they set up(coins, sponge, etc). something about the size of a penny felt like the size of a dinner plate through the system.

[maximus]

the commitment to 60 seconds from 7:00-8:00 was incredible! great bit loved it

[Therandomlaugh]

Hey Bennett! I’m actually used to be a Manufacturing Engineer for the Core Instruments division of Intuitive! You’ve got the older Si instruments there. Very impressed with your work! There’s a lot that goes into making that “talking” between the robot and instrument happen but you covered the basics great! A little background on the “life count” they actually have to qualify every instrument for a specific number of lives by running new versions through simulated use and do some math to calculate what the max life count would be. All has to be submitted through the FDA and approved for every country we send instruments to! Great Video!!

[EyesOnJeremy]

Great work! I had the opportunity to try a DaVinci at a local hospital back around 2010. They had just purchased a machine and held a one-day event where the public could come in and try it for a few minutes. They moved it out to a waiting room area and held a little press conference with local news stations. I may have been recorded in their B-roll footage using it and got on the news that night. Anyway, the machine was amazing. I got to use two large suturecut needledrivers at once. I got to peel a grape, tie a knot in thread, and handle a penny. It was really incredible passing the penny from grasper to grasper while rotating it. The penny felt like it was the size of a manhole cover!

[piro]

When I was a kid, the natural science museum in my town opened a large addition. They had a week-long special event to promote it. One of the things they arranged was for an entire da Vinci training set up to be temporarily on display for people to try. They had a computer-based simulator, but also a real robot too! They had a bunch of challenges for people to try like wrapping dental rubber bands around various small objects. It was super cool to learn about the technology, but then actually sitting at one for a few supervised minutes to see how much skill goes into making and using those units left a lasting impression. 11/10 day at the museum.

[ericlotze]

*Open Source Medical Robot?!?* I A M S O H Y P E D

[zachhubbs]

A "Space Mouse" might be a good option for a control scheme. They're commonly used for 3d modeling so it seems like it would translate well.

[dancastillo]

Absolutely not a "rediculous endeavor". This is Absolutely brilliant and I hope more young people are inspired by your curiosity and determination. You are literally showing everyone how anything is possible.

[Mistrz_]

Hey, like several other commenters, I am a software engineer and I had the opportunity to use the Intuitive Surgical daVinci during CVPR conference. I must admit that the most important element of this experience was the intuitive control of the robot using „pinching” and foot-controlled pedals. Equally important was the control stand itself, equipped with goggles and head and elbow supports. I am not sure if the goggles had stereovision. I had the opportunity to perform treatment on physical rubber rings as well as virtual training programs such as „moving a ring along a curved wire”.

[kyleballing]

I worked at Intuitive for 5 years as an engineer trying to figuring out how to manufacture these surgical tools. I assure you that limiting the number of uses is purely a safety factor. It is critical that they don't fail mechanically and some surgery really pushes them to their mechanical limits.

[ericlotze]

It wouldn't give the haptic feedback, but a Leap Motion / Ultraleap Hand Tracker may work to an extent.

For hand tracking *and* haptic feedback, short of making a OS Version of the Proper Device (which would be cool af, but agreeably hard (although a robotic arm without motors, if that makes any sense, may work. James Bruton did an OS "puppeteering rig" for the terminator torso+head, so between that and the OS Robotic Arms out there it *may* be doable with existing work and some integration hell)), there is an Open Source "Haptic Glove" type thing. I am unsure on latency and all that, but it was basically gloves, cables, and a sensor and/or motor module. They also have a discord which would be great for troubleshooting / brainstorming.

[deathcommand]

I believe the easiest option would be to design an oculus quest application to have it work.

That way you have easy 3axis movement. And adding a camera would basically get you to a davinci robot.

[engineer]

This channel is criminally underrated!

[termsofuniverse]

Oh man, this is great content! Love that it also exposes how inflated medical equipment costs are.